ARTICLE 5
STEREOTYPING AND PREJUDICES
STEREOTYPING AND PREJUDICES
The Committee raised concerns in paragraphs 55 and 56 of the previous Concluding Observations regarding the review of sexual offences being carried out by the Law Reform Commission (LRC). Major developments concerning several areas of the review are set out in Annex 5A.
In paragraphs 68 - 69 of the previous Concluding Observations, the Committee urged the HKSAR to intensify its efforts to eliminate discrimination against lesbian, transsexual and transgender women in employment, education and in their access to health care services. The Government has always been committed to promoting equal opportunities for persons with different sexual orientation and gender identity, including lesbian, transsexual and transgender women, with a view to nurturing the culture and values of inclusiveness and mutual respect in the community.
The Advisory Group on Eliminating Discrimination against Sexual Minorities (the Advisory Group) was established in June 2013 to advise on matters relating to concerns about discrimination faced by sexual minorities in Hong Kong, as well as aspects and extent of such discrimination. The Government has been actively taking forward the Advisory Group’s recommendations which included preparing training resources, drawing up a voluntary charter on non-discrimination, enhancing public education and publicity, reinforcing support services, and conducting further study on measures of other jurisdictions. In the past five years, we allocated a total of $9.8 million for the publicity and education programmes as well as $4 million to the Equal Opportunities (Sexual Orientation) Funding Scheme to provide funding support for worthwhile community projects which aim at promoting equal opportunities for sexual minorities. Besides, the Government continues to promote non-discrimination in the workplace by appealing to employers in Hong Kong to adopt the Code of Practice against Discrimination in Employment on the Ground of Sexual Orientation.
The Committee recommended at paragraph 11 of its previous Concluding Observations that efforts to intensify the dissemination of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendations should be made. The Government attaches great importance to the promotion of the Convention and the dissemination of the Committee’s Concluding Observations. Details of such efforts are further set out in Annex 5B.
Regarding the control of pornography and sex discriminatory elements in the media, the position remains largely the same as explained in paragraphs 49 to 50 of Part II of the second report and paragraph 84 of the previous report, except that reference to the Broadcasting Authority in paragraph 50 of Part II of the second report should be replaced by the Communications Authority, which was set up in 2012 as the unified regulator of the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in Hong Kong.
With respect to the review of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO) (Cap. 390) mentioned in the previous report, the Government conducted a second round of public consultation in 2012. Having considered the public views received in the two rounds of public consultation, in 2015 the Government proposed to implement a number of statutory and administrative measures to enhance the regulatory regime of the COIAO. For example, with respect to the composition of the Obscene Articles Tribunal (OAT), the Government proposed to increase the number of adjudicators at each hearing of the OAT in order to broaden the representativeness of the OAT. Furthermore, the Government proposed to increase the maximum penalty under the law to enhance its deterrent effect. The Government is working on the legislative amendments to the COIAO.
The position remains largely the same as reported in paragraphs 84 – 89 of the previous report. To ensure all child pornography cases are handled professionally, the Police introduced the “Manual of Practice – Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance” in 2015 for compliance by Police officers.
The Committee at paragraph 55 of its previous Concluding Observations urged the Government to allocate adequate resources to ensure the effective combat of all forms of violence against women, including domestic violence. The Government is committed to protecting women from all forms of violence under the Convention, the Convention against Torture (CAT), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which continue to apply to the HKSAR.
The law deals with domestic violence and sexual violence by imposing criminal sanctions for acts of violence and providing civil remedies to the victims. Details are set out in Annex 5C.
The Government continues to adopt a three-pronged approach, namely the provision of preventive, supportive and specialised services for the prevention and handling of domestic violence. To this end, we have allocated considerable resources to the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in implementing services under this three-pronged approach for individuals and families in need. SWD’s expenditure in this respect increased from some HK$1.3 billion in 2004-05 to HK$3.1 billion in 2016-17.
To enhance SWD's capability in handling domestic violence cases, the number of social workers in its Family and Child Protective and Services Units (FCPSUs) increased from 105 in 2004-05 to 168 in 2010-11, representing an increase of 60%. As announced in the 2018-19 Budget, the Government will allocate additional resources from 2018-19 to increase the manpower of FCPSUs of SWD for enhancing the child protection and family support services, including outreaching service, counselling and group activities. Besides, additional funding will be allocated to enhance the Educational Programme on Stopping Domestic Violence in order to provide support for children who have witnessed or been exposed to domestic violence and victims of domestic violence, and to help batterers or people who might resort to violence to stop using violence, with a view to protecting children from harm. These two enhanced services involve an additional annual recurrent expenditure of about HK$43 million. Other relevant support services by SWD are set out in Annex 5D.
The Police are committed to prevent and tackle domestic violence, and have formulated a set of policies and procedures for handling cases of domestic violence to reduce the risk and strengthen the protection of victims.
With victims’ interest and safety in mind, the Police have adopted a “one family one team” approach and deployed the same investigation unit to follow up cases concerning the same family since 2006. All Police Districts have “Designated Domestic Violence Units” for investigating serious domestic violence cases, whereas the “high-risk” non-crime domestic violence cases identified are handled by crime investigation units.
The Police have also implemented the Victim Management Workflow under which a consistent and coordinated approach in victims handling is adopted, and proactive measures that are commensurate with the level of risk and gravity of individual cases are taken. In addition, the “Enhanced Central Domestic Violence Database”, which contains information on previous domestic violence/domestic incidents, could facilitate the officers to identify risk factors of a family and conduct a risk assessment effectively. Based upon the assessment result, the Police will take appropriate action to minimise the risk, such as detaining the offender, arranging accommodation or counselling, or other assistance for the victims and their families in conjunction with SWD or other relevant agencies.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) is committed to improving the way in which cases involving domestic violence are conducted as well as protecting the special needs and interests of vulnerable witnesses. A prosecutor at directorate rank has been assigned as the policy coordinator of vulnerable witnesses cases to ensure that there is a sufficient pool of experienced and dedicated prosecutors who have a specific mandate to uphold the interests of victims and witnesses at every stage of criminal proceedings.
The Prosecution Code of DoJ provides guidelines to prosecutors on how to deal with domestic violence cases. Prosecutors must have regard to the “Guidelines for Prosecuting Domestic Violence Cases” issued by the Prosecutions Division of the Department.
In addition, the Prosecutions Division has issued The Policy for Prosecuting Cases involving Domestic Violence (2009) which provides detailed guidelines to prosecutors on how victims of domestic violence should be treated and their interests protected. The Statement on the Treatment of Victims and Witnesses (2009) has also been issued to indicate how DoJ considers victims and witnesses should be treated, and the means by which prosecutors will safeguard their interests.
Various administrative procedures have been adopted to ensure that domestic violence cases are processed expeditiously and the specific needs of the witnesses are addressed. Prosecutors would take appropriate measures to protect the privacy and address the psychological impact on victims and witnesses in sexual offence cases. Appropriate applications may be made to the court for the use of screens to shield witnesses from the accused while testifying, the use of two-way closed circuit television to enable witnesses to give evidence outside the courtroom through a televised link, the exclusion of the public from the court, etc. In June 2017, the Government introduced a Bill into the LegCo seeking to enable the court to permit complainants of specified sexual offences (e.g. rape, indecent assault, etc.) to give evidence by way of a live television link, so as to protect them from the embarrassment or ordeal of being exposed to public sight and the anxiety arising from the need to physically face the assailants during the trial. The Bill was passed by the LegCo in April 2018.
To ensure that victims of sexual violence receive specific attention and counselling in full anonymity, the Government introduced a new, comprehensive and one-stop service model involving multi-disciplinary assistance for victims of sexual violence in 2007. Under the model, SWD works in consultation with the Police, Department of Health (DH) and Hospital Authority (HA) to provide coordinated, timely and professional assistance to the victims. An NGO is commissioned to operate the Multi-purpose Crisis Intervention and Support Centre (namely, CEASE Crisis Centre) which assigns designated social workers who act as the case managers to coordinate and provide immediate support and follow-up services to the victims. Details of the services offered, information system for capturing relevant information of domestic violent cases, as well as training for professionals are set out in Annex 5E.
SWD has recently started reviewing the one-stop services with a view to identifying areas for improvement. These include enhancing multi-disciplinary coordination for referral and support services through interdepartmental liaison events and regular meetings; stepping up publicity for the services by all concerned bureaux/departments/agencies; reviewing and updating the list of designated venues in public hospitals as well as exploring new/alternative venues for the provision of dedicated physical space for the one-stop services; reviewing the capture of data and reporting mechanism on sex violence cases for better planning of services etc. It is expected that the review will be completed by end 2018.
