Source:
https://scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2188023/hong-kong-child-abuse-reports-show-city-failing-protector-act-now Letters
Hong Kong child abuse reports show city failing as protector: act now before more little ones are hurt
- The first level of defence is to ensure parents do not abuse their children, by training them to raise a family with love instead of violence
Mourners take part in a candlelight memorial ceremony for five-year-old Chan Sui-lam, who died after being thrown at the ceiling and poked in the chest with scissors. Her father and stepmother were arrested for child abuse. Photo: Handout
I read with deep sadness the latest statistics released by the Social Welfare Department, stating that the number of newly reported cases of child abuse exceeded 1,000 in 2018, a record high since the government began tracking the statistics in 1981. Even more sadly still, parents are the main perpetrators of such horrific crimes, accounting for 64.5 per cent of the abusers, with 7.5 per cent – the second highest – being strangers.
What can we do to protect our children? Clearly, the first level of defence is to ensure parents do not abuse their children. Parenting courses would be necessary to ensure they have proper training to raise their children with love instead of violence.
Children coming from vulnerable backgrounds are more prone to experience child abuse. Our system needs to identify these high-risk parents as early as possible to ensure they and their children receive proper guidance and protection.
Secondly, we need to ensure we catch these cases early enough through the observant and caring eyes of family members, teachers, neighbours and even just concerned strangers. Any kinds of reporting mechanisms would need to be widely promoted, understood and made use of, especially in areas where there have been more reported cases of child abuse, for example Kwun Tong and Yuen Long.
Thirdly, we need our children to learn to protect themselves, both from strangers and their trusted families, teachers and friends. This is an area of great challenge, as we need to ensure that the teachings do not compromise the natural trust children have towards people who are supposed to take care of them and protect them.
A child living in an illegal home on an industrial building’s rooftop in Kwun Tong, one of Hong Kong’s poorest districts. Photo: Dickson Lee
Last but not least, we need a legal system that effectively deters all forms of child abuse. Many countries have already introduced laws to ban corporal punishment. For some traditional parents, particularly in Asian countries, corporal punishment is still a common form of discipline to “teach” their children. Our current legislative framework in Hong Kong lacks a consolidated children’s bill and law prohibiting corporal punishment inflicted by parents. We should conduct research and engage in public discourse to explore and study whether enacting a ban on corporal punishment and increasing the penalties on perpetrators of child abuse would make sense.
Research has clearly shown that victims of child abuse suffer long-term psychological and emotional scars. It is time now to step up our efforts to protect our children who can’t speak for themselves yet already hold the key to our collective future.
Amy Fong, chief executive, Save the Children Hong Kong