XN000022-1996-11-06 — Page 36

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Wife battering and child abuse cases

Following is a question by the Hon Choy Kan-pui and a written reply by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Regarding wife battering and child abuse cases in the territory involving new arrivals from China, will the Government inform this Council :

Reply:

(a)

of the number of these two kinds of cases in the past three years;

(b)

(c)

whether it has examined the causes of such incidents; and

what measures are in place to prevent the number of such incidents increasing in the face of a continuing rise in the number of new arrivals from China?

(a)

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) does not have readily available statistics on child abuse cases before July 1994. During the two-year period from July 1994 to July 1996, 23 cases (or 2 % of all reported child abuse cases) involved new arrivals from China 15 cases involved new arrivals who had been in Hong Kong for around one year, and 8 cases involved new arrivals who had resided in Hong Kong for between two and three years. Of these 23 cases, there were four in which both the abuser and the abused child were new arrivals, 18 in which only the abused child was a new arrival and one in which only the abuser was a new arrival.

Social Welfare Department has no statistios indicating the number of wife battering cases involving new arrivals from China. According to the Department's reporting system, there were 196 new battered spouse cases in 1993; 220 in 1994; and 250 in 1995. 99% of these cases involved victims who were women. The Department is aware of the need for more detailed statistics for these cases and has started a pilot scheme to improve information systems in this respect.