Tag Archives: China

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LCQ1: Prevention and early identification of child abuse cases

     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Pierre Chan and a reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Dr Law Chi-kwong, in the Legislative Council today (May 12):

Question:
 
     Recently, a court case in which a five-year-old girl died of being abused has aroused wide public concern about the issue of child abuse. A child protection organisation pointed out that last year, due to the epidemic, schools suspended classes on a number of occasions and quite a number of parents worked from home or lost their jobs; as such, children and parents spent more time together, resulting in more conflicts between them and an increase in the number of assistance-seeking cases about child abuse. On the other hand, during class suspension periods, some parents were unable to stay home to take care of their young children, resulting in an increase in child neglect cases. Regarding prevention and early identification of child abuse cases, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will require all school-based social workers, school principals and teachers (especially members of School Crisis Management Teams) to receive more comprehensive training (e.g. a course of a duration of not less than three days) on child protection and identification of child abuse cases, so as to help them identify and intervene in child abuse cases at an early stage;

(2) as currently the epidemic has not been brought under complete control and schools have not fully resumed classes, of the measures put in place to step up child care support for parents or their relatives, so as to reduce child abuse incidents stemming from disciplining children and neglect; and

(3) of the current considerations based on which policies on school-based social workers (including the manpower level) are formulated; whether it will, in the light of the differences between the various types of education institutions (including kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and special schools) in terms of their nature and location (e.g. families in new towns needing more support), suitably increase the manpower of school-based social workers in the relevant education institutions, so as to help identify child abuse cases at an early stage? 
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     At present, there are a number of legislation in place that protect children from harm and abuse. They include the Offences against the Person Ordinance (Cap. 212), the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579) and the Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance (Cap. 213). In particular, the Offences against the Person Ordinance provides that ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of children is a criminal offence. Besides, the Government has implemented a number of measures in recent years to enhance the capability of school personnel in early identification of and timely support for suspected victims of child abuse.

     In consultation with the Education Bureau (EDB), my reply to the Member’s question is as follows:
 
(1) Front-line professionals (including social workers, teaching professionals, police officers, government counsels, medical professionals and healthcare personnel) play a crucial role in the early identification of suspected victims of child abuse. The Social Welfare Department (SWD) has organised on regular basis talks and skills training courses to strengthen the capability of these professionals in various aspects, such as identifying suspected child abuse cases at an earlier stage, conducting risk assessment, taking child protection actions and providing post-trauma counselling.

     In recent years, the EDB has stepped up training for school personnel on identification of child abuse victims including organsing annual briefings and seminars jointly with the SWD and the Hong Kong Police Force on handling child abuse cases, with a view to enhancing the capability and skills of principals, teachers and school social workers (SSWs) in handling child abuse cases. Besides, the EDB has also incorporated relevant elements or themes into training courses for school guidance personnel, with a view to enhancing the capability of school personnel holding different positions in early identification, intervention and support for suspected victims of child abuse. 
 
(2) Since the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019, the EDB has been maintaining a close liaison with the school sector. During class suspension or before full resumption of classes, schools are required to remain open for students whose families are not able to take care of them under the circumstances. In addition to keeping contacts with students through telephone calls and online means, SSWs also provide timely counselling to students in need through interviews or visits. The EDB has also reminded schools specifically that SSWs should constantly pay attention to students involved in cases of prolonged absence from schools, families lacking support and suspected or reported child abuse, and that they should handle high-risk cases in accordance with the established procedures. 

     In addition, to support children and families in need during the pandemic, the After School Care Programme centres for primary school students have since December 2, 2020 provided non-face-to-face services through online media, mobile applications and telephone calls when the centres are not open to the public. These centres are also able to continue to provide face-to-face service to children with special needs. 

(3) The EDB has implemented the policy of “one SSW for each school” in primary schools since the 2018/19 school year, under which public sector primary schools may, having regard to their own circumstances, employ at least one school-based registered graduate social worker with professional qualifications. As for special schools, the EDB has enhanced the provision of SSWs in aided special schools since the 2018/19 school year. Special schools with a capacity of 60 or less are provided with one SSW and subsequently 0.5 SSW for every 30 students so that each special school are provided with one or more SSWs. 

     The SWD has implemented the policy of “one SSW for each school” in secondary schools since the 2000/01 school year, under which SSW service is provided by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Additional resources have been deployed since the 2019/20 school year to implement the measure of “two SSWs for each school” in more than 460 secondary schools across the territory. Besides, for early identification of and timely support for pre-primary children and their families with welfare needs, the SWD launched a three-year pilot scheme in the 2018/19 school year to provide SSW service in phases for more than 700 subsidised/aided pre-primary institutions (PPIs) (including aided child care centres (CCCs), kindergartens (KGs) and KG-cum-CCCs) across the territory. The pilot scheme is implemented by social work teams operated by NGOs, with each team having eight social workers providing service for not more than 16 PPIs. The Government has commissioned a university to conduct an evaluation study on the pilot scheme so as to shed light on the way forward of the service. read more

East Asia

LCQ13: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

     Following is a question by the Hon Frankie Yick and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (May 12):

Question:

     The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (the Agreement), signed by 15 economies last year, is a free trade agreement of the world’s largest scale. The total population of such economies accounts for 30 per cent of the world’s population and their total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accounts for one-third of the global GDP. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of (i) the quantity of the cargoes transported to the member economies of the Agreement via Hong Kong as a transit point and, among them, the respective quantities of those that were and were not processed (including unloaded, reloaded and stored) in Hong Kong, and (ii) the respective volumes of trade between Hong Kong and such economies, in each of the past three years (set out by name of economy in a table); 

(2) as the Chief Executive indicated in the 2020 Policy Address that the Government would actively strive to make Hong Kong among the first batch of economies joining the Agreement after it took effect, of the latest progress of such work and the timetable for joining the Agreement; and
 
(3) whether, in order to grasp the business opportunities to be brought about by the Agreement to the trading and logistics industry, the Government will set up a working group and invite relevant organisations (including organisations of the logistics industry) to send representatives to join the group, so as to formulate the relevant measures; if so, of the details (including the organisations to be invited); if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:

President,

     Fifteen economies including Mainland China, the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November last year. It is the largest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) so far in the world, covering about 30 per cent of the world’s population and accounting for one-third of the global gross domestic product (GDP). The successful signing and implementation of the RCEP is an important milestone for regional economic integration and will facilitate free and open trade and increase investment in the region, furthering regional economic co-operation.

     As the logistics centre and hub in the region, Hong Kong is a close trading partner of the 15 RCEP participating economies, playing an important role in regional merchandise trade transhipment.

     In the past three years (2018-2020), the total volume of the transhipment cargo (including port transhipment and air transhipment) transported to and from the 15 RCEP participating economies via Hong Kong amounted to 95.6 million tonnes, 91.48 million tonnes and 93.52 million tonnes respectively (details at Annex 1). The Census and Statistics Department does not have the breakdown on whether the transhipment cargoes have undergone processing in Hong Kong. In the past three years, the total merchandise trade between Hong Kong and the 15 RCEP participating economies amounted to US$807.9 billion, US$765.5 billion and US$772 billion respectively (details at Annex 2).

     As a supporter of free and open trade, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been striving to expand its economic and trade network worldwide, actively seeking to forge FTAs and Investment Agreements with other economies, including seeking accession to the RCEP as soon as possible after its entry into force, to assist Hong Kong enterprises in expanding overseas to further Hong Kong’s long-term economic development. Joining the RCEP will not only strengthen the economic, trade, and investment ties between Hong Kong and the RCEP participating economies, facilitating Hong Kong’s further integration into the regional value chain and hence driving regional economic growth, but will also enable Hong Kong’s goods and enterprises to benefit from the relevant measures in the RCEP such as tariff reduction, preferential market access, removal of trade barriers and simplified customs procedures, etc. It will help lower the costs of trading and bring about new business opportunities for Hong Kong’s goods and enterprises in expanding their markets in the region, thereby providing a momentous drive to global economic recovery in the post-pandemic era.

     As highlighted in the Chief Executive’s Policy Address in November last year, Hong Kong, as a major financial and trade centre and a logistics hub of the region, coupled with the FTAs signed with 13 of the RCEP participating economies, i.e. the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement signed with Mainland China, and the respective FTAs signed with the ten member states of ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, is well placed to join the RCEP. The HKSAR Government has indicated, as early as in 2018, to individual RCEP participating economies at various levels and on various occasions Hong Kong’s keen interest in joining the RCEP. In November 2019, when the text-based negotiations were concluded, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (SCED) wrote to individual RCEP participating economies reiterating Hong Kong’s interest to join the RCEP, and received positive responses that Hong Kong may apply for accession in accordance with the relevant provisions after the RCEP enters into force. The SCED wrote again to RCEP participating economies after the RCEP was signed in end-2020 to reiterate Hong Kong’s interests in joining RCEP. The SCED is already liaising with trade ministers of a number of RCEP participating economies to commence discussions on Hong Kong’s accession, with a view to enabling Hong Kong to join the RCEP as early as possible after its entry into force. The HKSAR Government will make use of various platforms, including the Trade and Industry Advisory Board chaired by the SCED, to brief the trade on opportunities brought about by the RCEP in deepening regional economic and trade co-operation, and to develop facilitative and promotional measures in consultation with relevant industrial organisations, with a view to enabling Hong Kong enterprises to better seize the new business opportunities brought about by the RCEP to Hong Kong. read more

East Asia