News of a children's commission will bring good cheer to Hong Kong
Grenville Cross says in a city with more than 281,000 children in poverty, the chief executive should announce in his policy address the set-up of a commission to advocate on their behalf
God bless us, every one," said Tiny Tim, in A Christmas Carol. Although Christmas is a time of joy and giving, there are many people in Hong Kong who will find it hard to possess the seasonal spirit. Poverty, unfortunately, is a fact of life in many of the city's households.
Hong Kong is, of course, a hugely rich city. In January, the government announced that its fiscal reserve had reached HK$709.1 billion by the end of last year. Money is not a problem, although allocation is, and the government has ruled out using its resources to lift people out of poverty, claiming that funds must be distributed prudently.
However, the scale of poverty is truly shocking. Last year, for example, in its poverty report for 2003 to 2012, Oxfam Hong Kong found that the situation of poor working families had deteriorated over the period, with one in every six people living in poverty. Poor families remained trapped in poverty, despite some members having jobs, with the number of poor households standing at 400,000.
This year, the Commission on Poverty set the poverty line at half the median household income, before taxes and social benefits. About 1.3 million people, or roughly one in six of the population, are, therefore, below the poverty line.
Last month, moreover, researchers from Hong Kong's City University and England's Bristol University, based on a six-month study of 600 Hong Kong households and comprising 1,900 people, went even further than the commission. They reported that whereas 21 per cent of Hong Kong people were poor and 20 per cent were vulnerable, defined as being on the edge of poverty, the situation of the young was worse, with 27 per cent of children being deemed poor, and 22 per cent considered vulnerable.
Some families were found to be experiencing difficulty in providing three square meals a day, in buying fresh fruit and vegetables, in participating in public holidays, and in arranging extracurricular activities for their children.