The “I Have Something to Say” Children’s Forum organised by the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights (HKCCR) on 19 & 20 August 2025 at The University of Hong Kong was an amazing platform for children to speak up on matters of their concern and interact with relevant stakeholders from multi-disciplines so their voices could be properly listened.
The Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance will come into effect early next year. The HKCCR invited 25 children and young people aged 10 to 17 to participate in a team to discuss and voice their rights.
Taura Edgar, TALK’s founder, sat on the panel “The hidden tragedies of children: abuses from friends and close adults” where 5 of the students presented their views pointing out that many children have inadequate awareness and understanding of abuse, some children even mistake abuse as part of their parents’ education, and often fail to seek help in time when they encounter abuse.
The team recommends that schools include child abuse prevention and treatment classes in compulsory curriculum and set up peer support programs to provide children with appropriate and substantial support.
In response to children’s remarks, Dr Cheung, president of Against Child Abuse, said that in addition to children’s education, he believes it is necessary to strengthen parents’ awareness of their experiences of childhood adversity and its effects, and help parents understand the importance – “Society needs to provide psychological support to adults who experience childhood adversity to help heal childhood trauma and avoid passing on violence to the next generation.
Taura and others echoed this as well placing the responsibility with adults but commending the team on their excellent research and willingness to act!