Concern groups have criticised the government for failing to set up an independent children's commission and ignoring an earlier rebuke on the issue from the United Nations.
The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau invited the public to express their views on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by May 29.
'In accordance with past practice, the government has prepared an outline of the topics for inclusion in the report to facilitate public comments on relevant issues,' a bureau spokesman said. The finished report would be submitted to the central government as part of China's combined third and fourth report under the convention, he said.
Billy Wong, executive secretary of the Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights, was surprised that the outline mentioned nothing about a children's commission.
'We have been fighting for its establishment for a long time as it is vital to child policy in Hong Kong,' Ms Wong said. 'Also, the UN criticised the government for failing to do so in black and white as well as verbally in a meeting in Geneva a long time ago.'
When the government submitted its first report to the UN four years ago, the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a strongly worded report on the state of children's rights in Hong Kong.
It expressed grave concern at the level of poverty in the city and the lack of measures to combat the problem. It urged the government to establish an independent children's commission - with 'teeth' - to receive, investigate and address complaints and to pressure officials to make changes.