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Following is a question by the Hon Tam Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (July 12):
Question:
The publication of photographs of a 14-year-old girl in sexy poses on the front cover and a number of inside pages in Issue No. 752 of Easyfinder magazine has aroused public concerns. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of complaints about the above incident received so far, and the follow-up actions taken by the relevant departments and the current progress;
(b) of the number of complaints received by the authorities about teenagers under the age of 16 being used by the media to promote sex and pornography in each of the past three years, and the respective numbers of those which allegedly involved breaches of the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579) and were referred to the Police for investigation, and those in which offenders were convicted of breaching the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap. 390), as well as the maximum penalty imposed in the conviction cases; and
(c) whether it will step up efforts to prevent teenagers under the age of 16 from being used by the media to promote sex and pornography, including conducting a review of the existing legislation; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) has received 140 complaints about the front cover and the related content of Issue No. 752 of Easyfinder. Since the article concerned may have breached the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance (Cap. 579), TELA referred the article and all the complaints received to the Police on June 22, 2006 for follow-up action.
The Kwun Tong District Crime Unit has taken over the case in question for investigation and it has approached the parties concerned to gather more information. The case is still under investigation.
(b) In the past three years, apart from the above case about Issue No. 752 of Easyfinder, TELA received only one complaint about child pornography in December 2005. TELA also referred it to the Police for follow-up action.
Since the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance came into force in December 2003, the number of cases investigated by the Police for suspected breaches of the Ordinance is as follows:
Offence 2003 2004 2005 2006
(first
half)
Possessing
child
pornography 3 29 6 4
Publishing
child
pornography - 2 4 -
Making/
producing
child
pornography - 1 2 1
Importing
child
pornography - - - 1
Total 3 32 12 6
Since the enactment of the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance, 52 persons suspected of breaching the Ordinance have been arrested. Among them, 33 were charged after the Police's investigation with 26 convicted. Their sentences included imprisonment and/or fine, detention in detention centres, community service orders or probation orders, the highest penalty of which was 33-month imprisonment. For the 19 persons not charged by the Police, three were dealt with by way of the Police Superintendent Discretion Scheme, 12 were released unconditionally and four are still being investigated.
Before the enactment of the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance in December 2003, all complaints about pornographic articles were handled by TELA under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO) (Cap. 390). From January 2003 to December 2003, TELA did not receive any complaints about child pornography. During the same period, the cases in breach of the COIAO were not related to child pornography.
(c) Hong Kong has all along been committed to fulfilling the obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Labour Convention No. 182, to protect children from sexual exploitation in different forms, and has introduced the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance. The Ordinance has been in force for more than two years. The Administration will continue to closely monitor its implementation.
Apart from vigorous law enforcement, teaching children to protect themselves is also an effective measure to prevent them from being exploited in the production of pornographic articles and other forms of sexual activities. In view of this, the Police have undertaken to promote public education about child protection laws and procedures of handling such cases through seminars and talks at the district level. The public are encouraged to report such illegal activities, and victims to seek professional assistance. School Liaison Officers in each police district will continue to keep in touch with schools with a view to raising students' awareness of self-protection.
Furthermore, TELA regularly mounts publicity and education activities to enhance the understanding of the public, particularly students, of the COIAO. These include holding contests of meritorious websites, funding non-governmental organisations' publicity programmes in districts and schools, co-organising competitions with Radio Television Hong Kong, and holding roving exhibitions and school talks.
Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:00
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