Hong Kong’s new law that mandates certain professionals to report suspected cases of child abuse was too lenient but it prompted “real debate” in the city’s opposition-free legislature, a lawmaker has said.
Michael Tien on Friday said the previous day’s debate in the legislature over the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill was the first time lawmakers had engaged in “heated argument” since an electoral overhaul in 2021 ensured only “patriots” could join the city’s Legislative Council (LegCo).
“It was the first real debate after the establishment of [the rule ensuring] patriots govern Hong Kong,” Tien said in Cantonese during a phone interview with broadcaster RTHK. “It was a heated argument instead of everyone just raising their hands. This is a good thing and the public needs to decide for themselves which side is more reasonable.”
Tien was referring to a rare, seven-hour debate in the opposition-free LegCo on Thursday, when lawmakers discussed the appropriate level of penalty for specified professionals who failed to report suspected cases of child abuse to authorities.
The bill targets 25 professions including teachers, social workers and doctors. Failure to report suspected child abuse cases, obstructing such reports, and disclosing the identity of someone making a report could lead to up to three months in jail and a fine of HK$50,000.
Tien said the three-month jail term was not enough of a deterrent and purposed raising it to a year, but his peers warned of panicking professionals into over-reporting, which could affect investigations into real and serious cases of child abuse.
The bill was passed into law on Thursday with 79 votes in favour. Tien cast a vote of abstention.
Speaking to RTHK, Tien said the three-month maximum penalty was likely to see offenders given probation or non-custodial sentences, meaning it was unlikely to stop someone from concealing or neglecting to report suspected child abuse.
He also said raising the maximum penalty to a year would not result in panic reporting, as professionals would “absolutely know” when a suspected child abuse case emerged.
Speaking in the same program, Bill Tang of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said a one-year maximum jail term would create “excessive worries” among professionals over the risks of unintentionally failing to report.
“In that case, they may report simply because the children in front of them look really sad. They would not have the room to make a professional judgement on whether reporting serves the best interest of the children,” Tang said in Cantonese.
Tang, who chaired the LegCo committee on the bill, also said the penalty was consistent with that of failing to report on other serious crimes, such as drug trafficking, organised crime, and terrorism.
“We expect professionals to heighten their awareness under the law, whether [the child abuse cases] are serious or not, they will actively follow up rather than mechanically reporting every incident,” Tang said.
Calls for better protection of children from abuse were renewed in recent years. In late-2021, more than 30 staff at the Children’s Residential Home were arrested over mistreatment of children, including head-hitting and slapping.
A 56-year-old former staff at the care centre was sentenced to 27 months in jail for abuse, marking the heaviest sentence in the case so far.
Hong Kong recorded 1,349 child abuse cases last year, a 12.3 per cent rise compared to the figure in 2022, according to local media reports. Around half of the cases involved sexual abuse, while the other half involved physical abuse.
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