XN000022-1996-10-11 — Page 3

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In response to the concern on the problem of child abuse, the spokesman said the Government took the matter seriously.

"An inter-departmental working group on child abuse was re-convened in June 1993 to tackle the problem. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the Police established a Child Protection Special Investigation Team in December 1995 to conduct joint investigation into suspected abuse cases and conduct video-recorded interviews of child witnesses.

"The Child Protective Services Unit and the Clinical Psychological Unit of SWD have been provided with additional social workers and clinical psychologists to strengthen protection and treatment for the abuse victims.

"We are providing specialised training for the concerned professionals in handling child abuse cases.

"Following the publicity campaign on early reporting of child abuse cases in 1995, a campaign on prevention of child sexual abuse targeting both children and parents was launched in April 1996.

"More multi-disciplinary district committees on child abuse will be set up so that every SWD district will have such a committee by late 1996," said the spokesman.

The spokesman also referred to a recommendation in the observations that an independent body be established to monitor the implementation of the Convention within Hong Kong.

He said: "The Convention covers a large number of policy areas and the Government believes the appropriate arrangement is for Policy Secretaries to be responsible for the implementation of the Convention in their respective areas. They are assisted in discharging this responsibility by advisory boards and committees with members including NGO representatives.

"This administrative structure suitably caters for our needs and has served Hong Kong well. The Government's performance is already closely monitored by the Legislative Council, the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints and the press.

"The Convention does not require the setting up of a monitoring body. It is for the government concerned to decide on the appropriate administrative structure to implement the Convention."