Hong Kong Sevens joins Olympics and Super Bowl in fight against trafficking and sexual exploitation of children
UK-based charity It’s a Penalty uses global sporting events as a platform for change, educating people on how they can make a difference
It is hoped a global campaign using the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens as a vehicle to fight the sexual exploitation of children will have a lasting impact in the city.
Along with the Super Bowl, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, the Sevens is at the forefront of a 2018 campaign by UK-based charity It’s a Penalty to harness the “power of sport to protect children and young women from trafficking, abuse and exploitation”.
It’s a Penalty is using these sporting events as platforms for change, educating people and empowering them “with the mechanisms to report a crime”, including a hotline to report any wrongdoing.
“In [Hong Kong] they don’t have the extraterritorial legislation and one of the things we are going to do is collect the calls that come in and take them to the government and say ‘we do have an issue here, you need to get behind it’,” said It’s a Penalty chief executive Sarah de Carvalho.
“It is a global issue, it’s not just happening in Hong Kong. That’s why we’ve got the support of Australia for the Commonwealth Games, South Korea for the Winter Games and America for the Super Bowl.
