LegCo Member Meeting on Sexual Offence Law Reform

Yesterday we had a milestone meeting with the Social Welfare Functional Constituency Legco member, @tikchiyuen, to discuss our recommendations on the law reform for sexual offences.

This is a long awaited step toward modernising Hong Kong’s protection of all and especially children against sexual abuse. The groups represented were: @acsvaw, @hkulawfac, @talkhongkong, @teenskeyhongkong, @ceasecrisis.24hrs, @planhk, @hkfwc.1981 ,
@hkaaf38, @quarkshk, @gender.empowerment.hk, @foxworthinstitute, @hkcss_1947

Here’s a quick recap of the main things that were discussed, with a focus on child related offences in our case:

Sexual Offences Recommendations

• a uniform age of consent in Hong Kong of 16
• a definition of consent
• sexual penetration without consent should cover penetration of the genitals and mouth.
• abolish offences for buggery
• offences should be gender neutral
• should include an offence of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child
• should include an offence of causing a child to look at a sexual image
• should include an offence of sexual grooming
• should include offences related to online sexual abuse, sextortion, deep fakes
• should include an offence for stealthing
• abolish marital defence with regards to children
• sexual offences against children should not be separated into <16 and <13 since impact is same and sentencing should be same
• judicial discretion for consensual acts between children 14-16
• abolish “pornography” in favour of “child sexual abuse material”
• abolish “prostitution” in favour of “child sexual exploitation & commercialisation”