The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government (SAR) has taken measures to heighten children's awareness against sexual abuse, in light of a spate of abuse cases on them by Roman Catholic priests in Hong Kong.
Responding to a question on the Roman Catholic priests' criminal behavior, raised by a Legislative Councilor Wednesday, SAR Secretary for Security Regina Ip said various police stations have their specially trained policemen ready to deal with such cases.
"The Social Welfare Department has also had a child protection unit, which works hand in hand with the police's child abuse team," Ip said.
The Roman Catholic church in Hong Kong operates many schools here.
In order for both the primary and secondary schools to guard against further abuses and to identify early signs and symptoms of child abuse among their students and to report such cases, the SAR's Education Department has delivered to all schools the Chinese version of the procedures to follow, should abuses occur again.
Meanwhile, a circular memorandum has also been issued to all schools, requesting schools heads to follow the procedure, Ip said.
She stressed that the police will investigate each and every such criminal cases thoroughly.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2002)
