75% of Hong Kong public have little or no awareness of measures to safeguard children: poll

About 75 per cent of residents in Hong Kong have no or only limited awareness of measures that safeguard children from harm, a survey has found, with the charity behind the poll calling for more proactive measures to protect youngsters from abuse.

The Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, which released the findings on Friday, also found poor public awareness of a newly passed bill that made reporting of suspected child abuse mandatory, with just 37.5 per cent of residents and 42.5 per cent of employees in child-related sectors saying they were aware of the law.

The society commissioned Social Policy Research, a private company, to carry out the survey between May and July. The firm interviewed 1,000 residents and 400 employees working in sectors related to children, including theme parks, and learning and tutoring centres.

Subrina Chow Shun-yee, the organisation’s director, said the poll findings showed the public had a limited understanding about child safeguarding, which refers to comprehensive measures and policies to protect children from harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

“The goal of child safeguarding is to prevent children from being harmed at an earlier stage,” she said.

According to the survey results, 75.3 per cent of the public and 66.8 per cent of the employees had no or limited understanding of the concept. Among the employees, 71 per cent said they had not received any training on child protection.