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COMPLAINTS panels will be set up in government departments under proposed guidelines to ensure sexual harassment claims are investigated independently.

  Existing complaints officers will appoint for each allegation one male and one female investigating officer to form the panel so the complainant can be interviewed by an officer of the same sex.

  The officers must also be more senior than the target of the complaint, it is proposed.

  The nine-page guidelines, drafted by the Civil Service Branch, are the first of their kind. The document is being circulated internally for consultation.

  A final version is expected to be ready next year.

  Figures show 18 complaints of sexual harassment were lodged within the civil service in the past three years - all by women against men - resulting in the conviction of two officers.

  Civil servants' unions and women's welfare groups welcomed the guidelines and hoped they would be followed by private firms.

  But details of the guidelines, including the definition of sexual harassment, had to be studied thoroughly, they said.

  Peter Wong Hyo, president of the 100,000-strong Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Association, said: 'Sexual harassment is a sensitive topic which requires careful handling.

  'The definition of sexual harassment is complicated enough,' he said, adding that it might take a month to consult all his members.

  Sexual harassment is defined in the draft as including 'a range of unsolicited behaviour which, whether intentional or not, creates feelings of unease, humiliation, intimidation or discomfort, causes offence, exclusion or withdrawal or threatens or appears to threaten job security'.

  A spokesman for the Hong Kong Federation of Women's Centres, Linda Wong Sau-yung, said the guidelines would encourage victims to complain and would deter harassment.

  'Hong Kong lacks a channel to complain. Most cases are hidden because the victims do not know what they should do,' she said.

  Complaints must be addressed to the head of department, for attention of the complaints officer, it is proposed.

  The officer should acknowledge the complaint within 10 days.

  Department heads should keep records of all formal complaints to monitor the situation.

  If an investigation cannot be completed within a month, the complaints officer has to send an interim reply to the complainant.

  Any investigation which cannot be completed within three months should be drawn to the personal attention of the head of department, it is recommended.

  Principal Assistant Secretary for the Civil Service, Victor Yung Chuk-hung, said the independent complaint procedures would ease the sensitivity of dealing with sexual harassment complaints.

  The Secretary for Civil Service Michael Sze Cho-cheung came under fire from women's groups for labelling sexual harassment 'flavour of the month' during a Legislative Council meeting in May.

  Mr Sze then revealed the Government was considering issuing separate guidelines on sexual harassment for civil servants.



Sex pests face action plan