​The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) held the closing cum award presentation ceremony for the "Let's T.A.L.K. - Child Protection Campaign 2022" today (November 20). The Campaign, with the theme "Bystander Intervention", aims to arouse public awareness on child protection and appeal to the public the importance of early identification and intervention when encountering child abuse cases through a series of educational and promotional activities.
 
     ​In his speech at the closing ceremony, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations), Mr Yuen Yuk-kin, said that the number of child abuse cases in the first 10 months this year showed a slight rising trend compared to the same period last year. He pointed out that plenty of the cases were discovered and actively reported by carers of children, or the children actively sought assistance after being abused. This reflects that the general public pays increasing attention to child abuse cases and shows greater awareness in child protection. Moreover, the Government is taking forward the legislative work on a mandatory reporting mechanism for child abuse cases to further safeguard children’s well-being and significantly raise the awareness of reporting of child abuse cases. He believed that the general public has come to a consensus to contribute in child protection, therefore time is ripe for taking forward the relevant legislative work.
 
     ​Mr Yuen expressed gratitude to the enthusiastic citizens from various sectors for supporting this Campaign, including generous sponsors, the Social Welfare Department and non-government organisations which have been closely collaborating with Police, as well as schools, parents and students who actively participated in the Campaign.
 
     ​Police introduced a series of activities of the Campaign, including the enhancement of the child protection one-stop application (www.ChildProtection.gov.hk), a new series of animations about child protection, and the first social experiment focused on bystanders, “Be a Little Hero” Badge Design Competition, a tram mobile exhibition and so on.
 
     ​The “Be a Little Hero” Badge Design Competition has attracted more than 150 schools and 10 000 upper primary school students to participate. The participants have unlimited creativity. The submissions are very creative and inspiring, and have nourished students with empathy and courage with an aim to overcome bystander effect. Over 80 awardees received various awards from the officiating guests.
 
     ​Another core event of the Campaign was the social experiment, which targeted the general public. The experiment was held with a young actress being left alone on the street, and the behaviour of bystanders was analysed. There were more than 3 500 people passing by in the one-hour experiment, among which 180 noticed the girl. But only six of them, representing 3 per cent of those who noticed the girl, approached the girl to ask if she needed help. Police take this opportunity to remind members of the public that a proactive action could indeed prevent a case of child abuse. Details and result of the social experiment can be found at https://youtu.be/2E1GyHTAhPQ .
 
     ​Other officiating guests attending today’s ceremony included the Director of Social Welfare, Miss Charmaine Lee; the Ambassador of the Child Protection Campaign, Ms Guo Jingjing; the representative of the Hong Kong Paralympic Committee, Mr So Wa-wai; the Director of Crime and Security of the HKFP, Mr Yip Wan-lung; the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime), Ms Chung Wing-man; Chief Superintendent of Crime Wing Support Group of the HKPF, Ms Yu Hoi-kwan; and Senior Police Clinical Psychologist of Police, Ms Mak Wing-fun.
 
     ​In the closing ceremony, Mr So Wa-wai also shared his challenges in life while growing up. He was glad that there were a lot of people supporting him and encouraging him to encounter various problems positively. He encouraged everyone to seek help when facing adversity, and to solve problems with positive attitude because hardships that were encountered in the past will help success in the future.

Ends/Sunday, November 20, 2022
Issued at HKT 23:30

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