More Hong Kong children were sexually abused after meeting the perpetrators online last year, with the youngest victim just nine years old, the city’s police have said.
Hong Kong recorded 1,349 child abuse cases last year, a 12.3 per cent rise compared to the figure in 2022, local media reported on Monday. Around half of the cases involved sexual abuse, while the other half involved physical abuse, police told local outlets as part of a small-circle media interview. HKFP was not invited to attend.
Among the cases of underage sexual abuse, 45 involved victims who met the perpetrators through the internet, and increase of 15 per cent on the previous year. Most of the victims were aged between 12 and 16, while the youngest was nine.
Perpetrators would discuss sexual topics with children online and gauge their reactions as a way of “testing the water” and discovering their “bottom line,” Senior Inspector Sarah Chan of the police Family Conflict and Sexual Violence Policy Unit said. They would later ask the victims to meet in person, or tell them to send explicit images, she said.
In one case, a boy sent a nude picture to a man he met online using the “read and delete” function. The photo was screenshotted and the man used the image to threaten the boy to have sex with him. He was later arrested after the case was reported to the police.
“At present, many dating apps in the market offer features such as ‘read and delete’ or ‘disappearing mode,’ which give children the false impression that messages with sexual connotations or even explicit images sent to strangers will not be saved,” Chan said in Cantonese.
The police also recorded 44 cases of child pornography linked to online activities last year.
In 2023, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) reported 1,457 newly registered child protection cases. The figure reflects the number of children who were maltreated or might have been maltreated, as well as those at risk of mistreatment.
Among the cases, 602, or 41.3 per cent, suffered from physical harm or abuse. The SWD reported that 509 cases, or 34.9 per cent, involved sexual abuse.
The Hong Kong government is seeking to pass the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill, which will require professionals including child care workers and teachers to report suspected instances of child abuse. The proposed law has also suggested offering protection for the professional for making the reports.
Those who fail to make a report could face a fine of HK$50,000 and three months of imprisonment.
The legislative plan emerged following a major scandal at the Children’s Residential Home in late 2021, when it was revealed that the staff had allegedly assaulted or neglected dozens of toddlers in their care.
A total of 34 staff of the care home were charged with over 100 counts of child abuse, including slapping, shaking and kicking children from their bed. The 40 alleged victims are all children aged three or below.
One of the ex-carers was jailed for 27 months last June, marking the heaviest sentence so far in the care home case.
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