Mistrust of police blamed for big drop in reported rapes, aid group says
Victims worry about having to tell their story and being blamed, centre says
A growing mistrust of Hong Kong police has been cited as the reason behind a dramatic drop in the number of reported rapes during the first half of this year.
According to police statistics, only 22 cases of rape were reported between January and June, down from 59 during the first six months of last year. In 2012, 60 cases of rape were reported over the same period.
The Association Concerning Sexual Violence against Women attributes the drop to a growing lack of confidence in the city's police force.
"Rape is very much underreported in Hong Kong because it's hard for women to come forward - they fear they will be blamed and they worry about having to explain their story to a police officer," said Linda Wong Sau-yung, the executive director of the association, which runs Rainlily, the city's only rape crisis centre.
"Hong Kong is supposed to be this safe city, and yet we keep getting all these cases - do victims trust the police at all any more?"
She said legislation protecting rape victims had not been updated for 50 years, and the government's position was unsupportive of female victims - using "victim-blaming" language in its emphasis on how women can protect themselves from sexual violence.
Wong said domestic workers from overseas were particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse, with reports from Filipino and Indonesian helpers responsible for about 20 per cent of all cases handled by the association.