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Call on public to report child abuse
The Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, today (Thursday) appealed to the public not to turn a blind eye when they see a young boy or girl badly bruised or hurt.
They should also not turn a deaf ear to the screams of a child at night and must act if they suspect a child needs help.
"It is important that all who come into contact with children remain alert to the problem of child abuse and report what we see or hear to the authorities to the Police or local social welfare workers.
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"This problem more than many others is one that is often difficult to detect. Once detected, you may rest assured that we are doing all we can to ensure that both the abused and the abuser are given all the assistance they deserve," she said.
Mrs Fok was speaking on the topic "Facing up to Child Abuse" at the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong luncheon meeting today.
She told the Rotarians that child abuse was a problem which existed all over the world. However, in respect of the level of public awareness of the problem, Hong Kong has begun to face up to the problem which has now become more openly recognised.
Citing statistics, she said the number of child abuse cases in Hong Kong had increased from 429 in 1990 to 456 in 1993. The figure dropped to 422 last year.
Over 85 per cent of the cases reported in 1990 and 65 per cent in 1994 were of physical abuse. And due possibly to increased public awareness and readiness to bring the problem into the open, there was an obvious rising trend in the number of sexual abuse cases from two per cent in 1990 to 17 per cent of the total abuse cases last
year.
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In tackling these issues, she said, the Government must respect the rights of the parents as well as that of the children.
But this raises very difficult questions for a Government: When should Government intervene if a child is at risk? When would intervention be considered as being intrusive and taking away the rights of the parents?