Growing number of parents registering Hong Kong births after legal 42-day limit
After Repulse Bay tragedy, new figures reveal worrying trend that is often due to reluctance of men to put their name on birth certificates
A growing number of parents are delaying the registration of their children's birth, with the most extreme cases involving men who do not want to be recognised as the father.
New figures from the Immigration Department showing the upward trend come in the wake of the unprecedented case of two teenage sisters who were born and raised in Hong Kong with no identity documents.
One of the sisters, aged 15, died last Tuesday after she jumped from her family's 19th-floor flat in Repulse Bay, leading to the startling discovery that she and her younger sister, aged 14, had no identity papers and had never attended school.
Parents Nick Cousins, 58, a British insurance executive, and his partner Herminia Garcia, 53, are both out on bail. Cousins is suspected of ill-treating a child but has not been charged. Garcia has been charged with ill-treating or neglecting a child and is also charged with overstaying her visa for more than 20 years.
The case has prompted the Immigration Department to consider a review of its processes - which involve sending letters and calling parents yet to register the births - so as to avoid another such case.
While the vast majority of births are registered within the 42-day period stipulated under law, the number of late registrations has been on the rise.
Last year, 5 per cent (3,054) of the 61,322 births recorded were registered between 42 days and one year later - up from 4.4 per cent of total registered births in 2013 and 3.2 per cent in 2012.
Last year, there were 32 cases of a child being registered after one year - up 14 per cent from 28 cases in 2013, and 19 cases in the previous year.
If a child is registered within 42 days, a birth certificate is issued free of charge. After 42 days and before the child's first birthday, parents must pay HK$140. After one year, parents must submit reasons for the delay and if the explanation is accepted, the child will be issued with a birth certificate. This process costs HK$640.
There is no time limit on when a birth certificate can be issued as each case is assessed separately.
A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department said those who registered after the 42-day period but before the child's first birthday were "mainly owing to sickness or naming of the newborn baby".
Most cases in which babies were registered after their first birthday involved an "illegitimate child whose mother had encountered difficulties in locating the child's fathers or convincing the father to add their name to the birth certificate".
Jessica Ho Oi-chu, a veteran campaigner for children's rights and director of Against Child Abuse, said the figures confirmed a worrying trend.
"We do see other cases like this as we work closely with paediatricians who say there are an increasing number of women who do not register the births and they are very concerned about this."
She called on government departments to talk to each other more so that when hospitals notified the Immigration Department of a birth, the welfare of that child was looked into.
"They have to explore ways to help these babies who can't voice their needs," Ho said.
