Letters | Hong Kong’s child abuse reporting law should cover more professions

Readers discuss the limitations of the bill on mandatory reporting of child abuse, why Hong Kong shops offer relatively poor service, and America’s unfair targeting of Chinese businesses

Hong Kong society

Letters

Published: 11:30am, 9 May 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification

The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill now going through the legislative process aims to facilitate the early identification of abuse and provide timely intervention to protect vulnerable children. Yet a year after the bill was first introduced in the Legislative Council, it remains bogged down in debate.

The government has made some amendments, including a two-tier penalty system that would impose jail terms only for the most serious cases. Still, we see key areas that need enhancement.

Currently, the law requires 23 types of professionals – including teachers, social workers and medical practitioners – to report suspected child abuse. Failure to do so can result in up to three months in prison and a HK$50,000 fine. However, this limited scope leaves gaping holes that abusers can easily exploit.

Those working in sports institutions, tuition centres, religious institutions and child-related social service organisations often have frequent contact with children in their work. We’ve seen horrific abuse scandals in these settings both locally and globally, and Hong Kong cannot afford to leave these loopholes open.

In the sports sector, predators have been known to leverage the trust placed in prestigious clubs and influential coaches to prey on young athletes. The same power dynamics play out in religious institutions and tutoring centres, where adult authority figures manipulate and abuse the children in their care.

Expanding the range of professions covered can help ensure there is timely intervention where abuse has occurred.

As debate on the bill continues, pressure is mounting for lawmakers to take a more comprehensive approach. An overhaul of child protection laws and policies is needed. When push comes to shove, mandatory reporting is a passive and remedial approach which comes into play only after abuse has already occurred.

Ultimately, we need to create an organisational culture that is safe for children and where everyone upholds their responsibility to protect children. To this end, Plan International has developed a Child Safeguarding Policy framework following a comprehensive literature review of the legal requirements in different jurisdictions and the underlying high-risk factors in institutional child abuse. We urge the government to encourage institutions to proactively implement such a framework to prevent child abuse.

We hope mandatory reporting can finally shine a light on the shadows where child abuse hides, along with a safeguarding policy that gives children the safety net they deserve.

Kanie Siu, chief executive officer, Plan International Hong Kong

Service standards let down by a lack of workers

I refer to the letter, “What Hong Kong can learn from Japan and the mainland on welcoming tourists” (April 26).

The lower service standards in Hong Kong are due to labour shortage and lack of local competition.

Many food and drink companies on the mainland require their service staff to go through rigorous training and abide by stringent rules. Service crew at drink outlets, for example, receive training for days, even weeks, learning to familiarise themselves with the products, greet customers with enthusiasm and cope with complaints.

Companies even send undercover agents disguised as customers to check on their employees’ performance, and devise disciplinary actions and rewards to manage staff attitudes.

Such training is possible because mainland companies are usually able to hire full-time employees. In Hong Kong, however, most restaurants and drink outlets struggle to recruit formal staff and rely heavily on part-time employees who do not go through such training.

The poor service of some taxi drivers is another knotty problem for Hong Kong. On the mainland, we prefer ride-hailing services to taxis. Users can report cases of detouring or rude drivers for the service platform’s follow-up.

Ride-hailing services are unfortunately still illegal in Hong Kong and there is no central authority or platform managing taxi drivers’ performance, thus there is no incentive for them to improve their service. By legalising ride-hailing services, we would create competition to enhance taxis’ service standards.

Hong Kong is lagging behind other popular travel destinations in hospitality standards, and must catch up fast. To achieve this, the government must take a leap of faith in introducing measures that make the import of labour easier and break the long-standing monopoly of cabs.

Anson Chan, Guangzhou

US targeting of TikTok is blatant protectionism

First it was Huawei, to me the best phone to have come out on the market. Now it’s TikTok. There seems to be a sustained effort by the US government to suppress successful Chinese businesses on the pretext that those businesses pose a national security risk.

In targeting TikTok, the US government cites data safety concerns, arguing that the Chinese government would be able to mine data from users for intelligence or other purposes. But in the absence of solid grounds to back up these fears, it seems a clear case of protectionism.

America must accept that its hegemony on world trade has slipped and all that people of good will are asking is that China be allowed a fair playing ground in global business.

Gitura Kihuria, Nairobi, Kenya

Post