Complaints to a concern group's hotline about sexual abuse of children have more than doubled in the past year, figures show.
The director of Against Child Abuse, Priscilla Lui Tsang Sun-kai, said yesterday: 'The number recorded might not be enormous but the rate of increase is worth our concern. Remember, many of the cases have not been reported.'
In the 1999-00 financial year, 720 calls were received by the hotline, up 13 per cent on the previous year. Ninety-nine calls were related to sexual abuse, against 41 in 1998-99.
Mrs Lui said many of the cases were kept secret because victims wanted to protect the abusers, who were often family members.
The group's vice-chairwoman, Dr Patricia Ip Lai-sheung, said: 'People are still trying to clarify what sexual abuse is. We believe Hong Kong should do more research on it. More treatment should also be given to the victims.'
Dr Ip said the SAR lacked detailed data on sexual abuse. 'Children have different behaviour at different ages. It is hard to define what kind of behaviour should be classified as abuse until we have more experience. We're still learning.'
