Letters | Hong Kong must tighten sex offender checks to stop child abusers striking again
- Readers discuss the need for comprehensive background checks on those who work with children, a plan to roll out e-payment for all Hong Kong taxis, and a necessary condition for attracting foreign talent
We are especially outraged because this could have been avoided if the government had listened to the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in 2010 that an administrative scheme to check for sexual offences conviction of people who work with children and mentally incapacitated people should include “employees, volunteers, trainees and self-employed persons”.
Yet, the Sexual Conviction Record Check scheme that was launched in 2011 excluded personal tutors and NGO volunteers. Over the years, child protection workers have criticised the scheme for its loopholes giving paedophiles a way to gain access to children. It’s time the authorities implement more comprehensive checks and make them mandatory.
We echo the Law Reform Commission’s call to extend the scheme “to its fullest”. In a 2022 report reviewing sexual offences sentencing, the commission recommended that the scheme should “cover all existing employees, self-employed persons and volunteers” and called on the government to “evaluate the need to make it a mandatory scheme at an appropriate time”.
The current scheme is another example of how the principle of “the best interests of the child” has not been properly interpreted for the rights of children. Children rely on the government to take all appropriate measures to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The government owes the public a swift response on its plans to strengthen the Sexual Conviction Record Check scheme to truly protect the vulnerable. Organisations working for and with children should also develop their own policy to address child protection with care and commitment.