Following is a question by the Hon Chan Pui-leung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Tang Ping-keung, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):

Question:

     It has been reported that a violent bullying incident involving minor girls occurred at the Kwun Tong Promenade on New Year's Day this year, arousing public concern about how to prevent such bullying behaviour. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of complaints, reports, and requests for assistance received by the Government involving bullying behaviour among minors in the past five years, as well as the respective numbers of prosecutions instituted and convictions, with a breakdown by nature (i.e. (i) physical bullying, (ii) verbal bullying, (iii) social/relational bullying, (iv) sexual bullying, (v) cyber bullying, and (vi) others);

(2) given that the Government pointed out in its reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council on September 15, 2021 that every bullying case is unique and involves the interplay of multiple personal and environmental factors, whether the authorities have investigated and compiled statistics on the causes of bullying cases among minors (e.g. relationship disputes, pecuniary disputes or purely malicious harm); if so, of the details, including the causes of such bullying cases in the past five years and their respective percentages; if not, the reasons for that;

(3) regarding bullying behaviour among minors, whether the authorities have formulated relevant support, emergency handling or punitive measures targeting the parties involved (including the bullies, the bullied and the bystanders); whether the authorities have assessed if the current family, school, and public education are effective in preventing such bullying behaviour; if an assessment has been made and the result is in the negative, of the plans for improvement; and

(4) whether it will, by drawing reference from the Regulations on the Protection of Minors at Schools of the Mainland and the Act for the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying of Japan, etc, clearly define bullying behaviour; and by drawing reference from the Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law of the Mainland and the Statute of the Child and Adolescent of Brazil, etc, review afresh the age of criminal responsibility currently stipulated in the Juvenile Offenders Ordinance (Cap. 226) and the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) and increase the relevant penalties; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

     The Government attaches great importance to the problem of bullying, in particular those among minors, and has been tackling the issue through a multi-pronged approach, including strengthened enforcement actions, support to victims as well as publicity and education. Bullying behaviour is broadly categorised into physical bullying with aggressive behaviour, verbal bullying, cyber bullying, sexual bullying and indirect bullying. Depending on their nature, cases of bullying are followed up by different government departments and statutory bodies. In consultation with the Education Bureau (EDB), the Labour and Welfare Bureau, and the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, the reply to the Member's question is as follows:

(1) In the past five school years (from 2020/21 to 2024/25), the EDB received a total of 72 complaints, reports, and requests for assistance in relation to school bullying among peers. The EDB completed 67 cases, of which 15 complaints were found substantiated or partially substantiated upon investigation. Depending on their seriousness, the cases were handled by the schools according to the school-based disciplinary and counselling mechanisms or referred to the Police for follow-up actions. Since each case has its unique nature, and some of the cases may involve more than one category, the EDB does not compile the statistical figures on the categories in question.

     The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) handles acts of sexual harassment that may involve sexual bullying. In the past five years (2021 to 2025), the EOC received a total of 25 complaints about minors being sexually harassed. The complaints involved harassment perpetrated verbally or by means of text messages, such as engaging in sexual banter, commenting on the victim's body figure, asking about the victim's sexual experience and making sexual innuendos, as well as unwelcome physical contact.

     On the other hand, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) handles doxxing behaviour (irrespective of whether verbal or cyber bullying is involved). Since 2024, the PCPD has separately maintained statistics on doxxing complaints involving minors. A total of two doxxing cases involving minors were recorded as at 2025.

     Cases involving criminal elements are handled by the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). While the HKPF does not maintain the statistical figures on the categories of bullying cases, the numbers of juveniles (aged 10 to 17) arrested, prosecuted and convicted for common offences associated with bullying, such as wounding and serious assault, indecent assault and theft, in the past five years (2021 to 2025), are set out in the table below.
 

Year		2021	2022	2023	2024	2025(Note)
Wounding and serious assault	Arrested	270	300	314	270	290
	Prosecuted	75	121	110	98	51
	Convicted	46	81	73	59	26
Indecent assault	Arrested	82	107	141	113	129
	Prosecuted	23	18	21	32	15
	Convicted	14	13	15	20	10
Theft	Arrested	318	225	289	354	326
	Prosecuted	72	38	41	72	42
	Convicted	49	29	29	44	24

Note: The prosecution and conviction figures for 2025 are figures up to the third quarter.
 
(2) The EDB, the EOC, and the HKPF have not categorised the above cases by intention and motives. The doxxing complaint cases investigated by the PCPD involve relationship disputes and school disputes respectively.
 
(3) The Government adopts a zero-tolerance attitude towards bullying among minors. Various policy bureaux and departments have developed a holistic approach to jointly prevent and curb bullying at the levels of schools, community and criminal enforcement, while also promoting anti-bullying messages. The specific work is as follows:
 
Schools

     A safe and harmonious school environment is crucial for the growth of minors. The EDB, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) and the HKPF have introduced a series of measures to assist schools in building a caring school culture and nurturing students' proper values. They also help with the prevention, early identification and handling of school bullying, and provide students in need with support and mediation. The key measures are as follows:
 
(a) The EDB requires schools to adopt the Whole School Approach in formulating and implementing anti-bullying policies, and has provided schools with clear guidelines, listing in details the principles, procedures, methods and follow-up actions for handling school bullying incidents. At the same time, the EDB supports schools in implementing values education within and beyond the classroom, provides schools with resource packages and teaching materials on anti-bullying, and organises diversified student development programmes and activities. The EDB continues to organise various kinds of teacher professional training activities in an ongoing manner in order to enhance school personnel's professional knowledge and capability of preventing and handling bullying in schools. The EDB also provides parents with various information through the one-stop parent education information website Smart Parent Net, helping parents acquire the knowledge and skills for nurturing their children positively. Since 2024, the EDB has been providing the "Harmonious School: One-Stop Hotline and Counselling Services". Registered social workers provide advice, counselling and case referral services for students and parents through the hotline and instant messaging software, as well as on-site support services for schools in need.
 
(b) Starting from the 2019/20 school year, the SWD has put in place the measure of "two school social workers for each school" for over 460 secondary school across the territory in order to strengthen the provision of counselling and support services for students in need.
 
(c) The HKPF has launched the Youth Crime Prevention Booklet since 2022 to instill anti-crime awareness and proper values in young people. Teaching materials on anti-bullying are also produced to provide parents and educators with prevention and response strategies, so as to prevent young people from bullying others or becoming victims. Meanwhile, the HKPF has implemented the Police School Liaison Programme, through which it establishes a good relationship with the school community and promotes law-abiding awareness among students, thereby preventing young people from committing crimes and falling into traps. In addition, the HKPF launched the "One-stop Child Protection Web Application" (www.childprotection.gov.hk) and the website "SafeCity.HK" (www.safecity.hk). The latter contains a video entitled "Stand Firm against School Bullying and Build a Harmonious Campus Together", which helps teachers remind minors of the gravity of bullying behaviour.
 
Community

     To meet the needs of at-risk and hidden youths, the SWD set up five Cyber Youth Support Teams (CYSTs) in December 2018 to proactively search and reach out to them through online platforms that are popular among young people, providing timely intervention, support and counselling services to those in need to reduce their likelihood of becoming bullies or victims of bullying. In June 2025, the SWD further enhanced the services of CYSTs. Through the online youth emotional support platform "OpenUp", CYSTs provide 24 hour real-time text-based online counselling service and support for young people experiencing emotional distress and immediate crises, including those facing problems relating to bullying behaviour.

     In addition, under the Community Support Service Scheme, non-governmental organisations receiving subventions from SWD provide timely counselling and support for minors aged from 10 to under 18 who have been arrested or cautioned under the Police Superintendent's Discretion Scheme (PSDS) and their peers, to help them reintegrate into school life or the workforce, thereby reducing their likelihood of law infringement.
 
Criminal enforcement

     If the bullies' acts have contravened the criminal law, the HKPF will take serious and resolute prosecution actions against the offenders. For minor offenders, the Police provide the PSDS as an alternative arrangement to prosecution. Under the PSDS, police officers at the rank of Superintendent or above exercise discretion in issuing cautions to arrested minors who are involved in minor crimes and meet the qualifying criteria. After being cautioned, the minors concerned will be put under police supervision normally for a period of two years or until they reach the age of 18.

(4) Different academics have different views over the definition of bullying. Regarding school bullying, the EDB issues guidelines and circulars to schools, outlining the components, types and forms of bullying behaviour, as well as explaining the principles, procedures, methods and follow-up actions for handling school bullying incidents.

     Regarding the minimum age of criminal responsibility, the minimum ages set by different jurisdictions worldwide vary, generally ranging from 10 to 14 years of age. In Hong Kong, under the Juvenile Offenders Ordinance (Cap. 226), the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 10 years of age, which is lower than the standards adopted by the Chinese Mainland and Brazil (i.e. 12 years of age) mentioned in the question. Furthermore, in criminal cases, if the prosecution can prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person of 10 and under 16 years of age has committed an offence and is well aware at the time of the offence that his or her act is seriously wrong, the defendant shall bear the same full criminal responsibility as an adult offender.

     The Government will timely consider whether to adjust the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Hong Kong taking into account practices in different jurisdictions, with a view to striking a balance between safeguarding public safety and protecting the rights and interests of minors, ensuring that relevant legislation keeps pace with the times.
 
Conclusion

     The Government will continue to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to prevent, identify and handle the problem of bullying while strengthening law enforcement and providing support for the bullied. The Government will also disseminate anti-bullying messages to schools, parents and minors, and help minors develop proper values, with a view to reducing bullying behaviour among them.

Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Issued at HKT 14:51

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