​The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (November 20) held a ceremony on the 2022 Child Protection Day cum 20th Anniversary of the Publicity Campaign "Strengthening Families and Combating Violence" in online format. The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, and the Director of Social Welfare, Miss Charmaine Lee, joined the representatives from different sectors to promote the message of child protection to the community and achieve the goal of "Child Protection, All Action".

     Drawing concerted efforts from government departments, non-governmental organisations and professionals from various fields, the SWD's publicity campaign Strengthening Families and Combating Violence has been adopting different promotional strategies to remind the general public to cherish their families and prevent domestic violence in order to foster family solidarity. The campaign has selected "Child Protection, All Action" as its theme this year. Coinciding with the United Nations' World Children's Day, the 20th anniversary ceremony of the campaign held today was especially meaningful as today is designated as Child Protection Day to raise the public's awareness on child protection.
 
     Addressing the ceremony, Mr Sun said that joint efforts from different sectors and the general public are indispensable for building a pro-child Hong Kong. The Government will take forward the legislation on a mandatory reporting mechanism for child abuse cases at full steam with the target of introducing the bill to the Legislative Council in the first half of 2023. Practitioners in relevant professions will be provided with training so as to assist them to identify and report child abuse cases at an early stage. He urged different sectors to act in unison to protect the younger generation and create a happy and healthy environment for children.
 
     In her remarks, Miss Lee said that families form the building blocks of society and provide solid backing for child protection. The SWD will spare no effort in stepping up public education and building a more robust safety net for children through multidisciplinary collaboration and the strengthening of family functioning. She urged all sectors to join hands on child protection and listen to children's voices from different perspectives.
 
     Child Protection Day was launched in an animated video with the voice navigation provided by renowned programme host Jacqueline Pang. The Heart and Hut YouTube channel was rolled out at the ceremony, and the video "Child Protection: Listening to children's voices" was premiered. With the use of social media and the Internet, people from all walks of life will be reminded to show their care for children's needs and support needy families in order to prevent child abuse.
 
     The SWD has produced a brand-new theme song this year and invited primary and secondary schools students as well as the general public to participate in a music video production contest so that participants can express children's voices in images and music. The results of the contest were announced in the ceremony and the awards were presented. The champions of the primary school category, the secondary school category and the open category were SKH St John's Tsang Shiu Tim Primary School, Society of Boys' Centres Shing Tak Centre School and Free Methodist Church Tuen Mun Children and Youth Integrated Services Centre respectively.
 
     To echo the 20th anniversary of the publicity campaign Strengthening Families and Combating Violence, the SWD's district social welfare offices and social service organisations have arranged over 900 programmes for over 21 000 participants since April 2022. Looking forward, the SWD will continue to launch a series of territory-wide publicity and district-based publicity and educational programmes to disseminate the message of child protection and family harmony to the public. 

     For an archive of today's event, please visit the Heart and Hut Facebook page (www.facebook.com/HeartandHut) and YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UCn4UP7O_KRa0cPFtyPNnv6Q).

Ends/Sunday, November 20, 2022
Issued at HKT 16:00

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