TNAG-1856-FCO40-2631-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 184

28 June 1989

一九八九年六月二十八日

48

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

香港立法局

child in a non-institutional facility such as a foster home or small group home run by voluntary agency rather than to place the child in a large institution where the child's adjustment will be a problem.

Article XVIII of the convention states that it is the child's right to have protection from sexual exploitation and abuse including prostitution and involvement in pornography.

I am afraid that the problem of missing teenage girls and prostitution involving young persons in Hong Kong is becoming more and more serious.

Just a few weeks ago, the superintendent of a girls' home told the participants of a seminar that the age on admission to the girls' home tends to be younger and younger. She quoted that the youngest girl they had last year was 12 years old. In addition, five of the new girls were only 13 years old. In the past, she said most of the girls admitted to the same home were about 14 to 15. Among the 40 girls that the home had accommodated in the past six to seven months, 32 of them had had sex under the age 16; 13 of them had been involved in prostitution, five had been raped; and four had contracted sex related diseases. One perhaps will never know exactly how many of the adolescent girls, or even boys, are involved in sexual malpractice. Nor can one tell how many are exploited by adults but who have not come to the notice of this authority.

I must admit that there is no perfect solution to this problem. But I believe that through our concerted efforts, we can achieve more in our effort to control this problem. I would therefore urge that the Government should pay special attention to this issue and to arrange better co-ordination among the various government departments and organizations concerned with this problem.

I wish also to take this opportunity to ask the Government to pay particular attention to marriage problem and one-parent family as the rate of divorce is rising rapidly and this trend is particularly alarming in the new town. I would urge the Government to look into the possibility of setting up special family court in various towns of the districts so as to foster the relationship between the judiciary, social welfare agencies and the police in the region, in respect of family matters and affairs which are in dispute. This would enable the court not only to put the law into practice in respect of matrimonial matters but can also easily enlist the local support of the voluntary social services agency and police effectively.