Authorities should allocate more resources to supporting sexual-abuse victims as they have fewer channels to seek help amid the pandemic, an anti-sexual violence group said yesterday.

RainLily, a service unit of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, said yesterday it had followed up on more than 1,000 such cases from 2019 to September 2021, and that the heart-breaking statistic was that more than one fourth of them, or 266 cases, involved children.

In the first nine months last year, the group logged nearly 320 cases, with nearly a third of these abuse victims aged 18 or younger.

About 40 percent of the victims said they were abused by relatives, and 16 percent by friends or schoolmates, and one third by people living in the same household.

Linda Wong Sau-yung, executive director of RainLily said the number shows an upward trend of abuse cases and the fewer channels available for victims to reach out for help now due to the epidemic, causing a greater sense of alienation and abandonment and necessitating more emotional support.

Only 30 percent of child sexual abuse cases have been reported to police.

"This showed that it's not common for victims to report their cases to police, and the sexual violence cases revealed by police are actually the tip of the iceberg," said Wong.

The group also said it took a very long time for child victims to seek help - an average of 12.8 years after the abuse happened, 10 times longer than adult victims.

For victims who were abused by their relatives, they took much longer time to 22.7 years to report their cases.

"The problem of child sexual abuse in Hong Kong has not been solved yet and the victims faced a lot of difficulties for them to report their cases. The situation with delays in seeking help is very serious," Wong said.

She said accommodation and counselling services are important for victims as some of them still have to live with the people who abused them, increasing the risks for them.

The group also called on the government to enhance public education on preventing child sexual abuse, as well as to devote more resources in hotlines and websites which support parents to deal with child sexual abuse.

Wong's colleague, Albert Yau Chi-hang, said some victims have told family members or professionals like social workers of the abuse but could not receive help immediately due to complications with their family relationships, while some child victims could not relate their experiences clearly.

"Recovering or seeking help is not a one-off process or a one-off decision, it's not a short-term process, recovering is a life-long process," he said.

Linda Wong

Alarm raised over Sex abuse of women,kids