Research Findings of Hong Kong Women’s Experiences of Violence

Our club realizes there is a scarcity of statistics on sexual violence & domestic violence in Hong Kong. That is why we decided to sponsor the research titled 'Hong Kong Women's Experiences of Violence 2021.’ It is organized by Women’s Coalition on Equal Opportunities. Researcher is Annie Chan from Lingnan University who organized the survey comprising 1044 questionnaires completed by violence victims, plus 30 in-depth interviews.

A total of 15 recommendations have been presented to the Hong Kong community during our Press Conference on March 7, 2022. We have come up with encompassing & wide-ranging recommendations for improvement in the policy & servicing strategies to help survivors of sexual violence & intimate partner violence. The Press Conference has received tremendous local media interest and it was covered by 17 newspapers, radio & TV stations. Our recommendations include the following:

• We recommend Hong Kong Government offers Financial Support & Housing Support to women victims, as well as establish Sexual Violence Crisis Support Centres.

• We recommend Hong Kong Government to improve flexibility in service provision and increase funding to NGOs servicing female victims.

• We recommend Hong Kong Government to review procedural guidelines for handling sexual violence cases, procedural guidelines for handling intimate partner violence cases, and procedural guidelines on child abuse.

• We recommend Hong Kong Police to review existing classification for domestic violence, which leads to an under-reporting of the prevalence of domestic violence.

• We recommend Equal Opportunities Commission establish mandatory sexual harassment policies for companies and implement staff training.

• There is a need to improve policy, legal and professional training provision. This would include modernization of Family Court, increase training for personnel who work with women, and speed up reforms on sex crime legislation.

• We need to educate the public about sexual and intimate partner violence and equip women with information on women’s rights and relevant laws to protect women in Hong Kong.

• There is a need to address sexual violence in public transportation and schools.

In mid-July, we distributed over 1517 copies of our Research booklet to 762 contacts, comprising high level government officials, LegCo Councillors, pertinent government departments, NGOs, legal fraternity, schools, transportation companies and media. We hope that the material will help policy makers and service providers in the planning & implementation

of their future strategies.