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Following is a question by Hon Dennis Kwok and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (January 8):
Question:
Regarding the crimes of abduction and human trafficking, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the number of reported cases involving abduction and human trafficking crimes in the past five years; among such cases, the respective numbers of those in which the victims were children and those which have been detected; and
(2) whether the Police have set up a dedicated team to investigate such cases; if they have, of the establishment of the team; if they have not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Child abduction and human trafficking are serious offences. Under section 43 of the Offences Against the Person Ordinance (Cap 212) concerning "stealing child under 14 years", any person who unlawfully, by any means, leads or takes away, or decoys or entices away, or detains any child under the age of 14 years, with intent to deprive any parent, guardian, or other person having the lawful care or charge of such child of the possession of such child shall be guilty of an offence triable upon indictment, and shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years.
The SAR Government combats human trafficking-related offences by means of various laws, including section 129 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap 200) under which a person who takes part in bringing another person into, or taking another person out of, Hong Kong for the purpose of prostitution shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for 10 years.
A total of five reports of suspected child abduction involving five children under 14 were received by the Police between 2008 and 2012. All the children were eventually found. Of these five cases, two of which involved children taken away by their mothers, one of which involved a boy leaving boys' home with his friend without permission, and the remaining two involved strangers. In the two cases which involved strangers, the purposes of committing crimes were not stealing children, one of which was related to indecent assault, and the other case was related to a man who took away a girl for a DNA test in order to show his extramarital girlfriend that his daughter was not his own.
On another front, a total of 14 human trafficking cases in relation to section 129 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap 200) were received by the Police between 2008 and 2012. All were connected with prostitution activities, and one of such cases involved two females under 18. These cases had all been detected.
The Police shall, in accordance with the nature and seriousness of individual child abduction and human trafficking cases, direct such cases to appropriate crime units, such as Crime Squads or Organized Crime and Triad Bureau, for follow up.
Ends/Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Issued at HKT 15:31
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