When police asked Mui to recall every sexual abuse incident she suffered, she found it incredibly painful. She had been abused by her stepfather for seven years, beginning when she was just 13 and lasting until she turned 20.
Mui, who suffered seven years of sexual child abuse. Photo: Irene Chan/HKFP.
“There were too many incidents and it was hard to recall each,” Mui, who is now 25, told HKFP in mid-June under a pseudonym. According to her witness statement, it occurred at least 100 times over a seven-year period.
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As an adolescent, Mui suffered alone and was at a loss for words. As her stepfather was the one who supported the family, Mui was also worried that reporting the abuse would leave her and her mother homeless.
It was not until she was able to leave the family, start a job, and seek assistance from social workers that she was finally able to talk to the police in 2024.
Yet under Hong Kong’s legal system, no specific crime covers the entirety of her ordeal. Whether dealing with rape or a chain of indecent assaults, any prosecution must focus on specific incidents. This requires the victim to remember the precise date and venue of the incident, as well as the exact conduct of the defendant.
The prosecution eventually laid five charges, which corresponded to five incidents, against Mui’s stepfather as “sample charges” to represent the persistent abuse.
In May, a Hong Kong court sentenced the stepfather to 13 years in prison after he was convicted of one count of rape, two counts of indecent assault, and one count of gross indecency with a child under 16. He was acquitted of one count of rape.
File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Mui felt the entirety of her ordeal was not properly covered in the courtroom.
“I felt the case only emphasised that he did something [sexually abusive], and that it was all finished while I still had lots to share,” Mui said in Cantonese. She wanted to share in court that, along with the sexual abuse, her stepfather also abused her physically and mentally, resulting in a dark childhood.
Mui said she wished Hong Kong would introduce the offence of “persistent child sexual abuse,” which some common law jurisdictions introduced long ago.
Reform after 20 years’ stagnation
Hong Kong laws on sexual offences remain outdated, with most of them introduced in the 1970s based on the erstwhile laws of England and Wales.
In 2006, the government tasked the Law Reform Commission (LRC) with reviewing relevant laws with a view to kickstarting reform. Despite the introduction of the offence of voyeurism in 2021, there was otherwise little significant progress.
It was only 20 years later – early last month – that the government proposed an overhaul of sex crime legislation.
Authorities are seeking to introduce dozens of new offences, including some to protect mentally impaired people, as well as to expand the scope of rape, and to redefine what consent during sexual activity is.
The government adopted advice from the LRC that reforms will follow principles such as respect for sexual autonomy, gender neutrality, and the avoidance of distinctions based on sexual orientation.
“We are X” and the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women jointly host a press conference on July 8, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
As radical reform of sex crime laws finally arrives after years of stagnation, over 20 sexual assault survivors gathered in June to form a campaign group called “We are X.” In court cases, sexual assault victims are usually named as “X” over privacy concerns.
In early July, the group and the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women jointly hosted a press conference to welcome the legal overhaul after 20 years of consideration. Yet there were still loopholes to be closed, they said.
A hidden, vulnerable group
For sex crimes related to children, the government proposed a new offence of sexually grooming a child, which refers to adults befriending children and sexually abusing them. It also planned a new offence of arranging or facilitating the commissioning of a child sexual offence, which would allow authorities to take early steps in tracing paedophiles.
However, the government proposal did not seek to strengthen protections for those who suffered prolonged sexual abuse in childhood – an extremely vulnerable and hidden group.
RainLily, an NGO supporting female sexual assault survivors, has reported that – of the childhood abuse cases they handled between 2019 and 2021 – 40 per cent involved family members.
Victims delay seeking help by an average of 12.8 years – rising to 20 years for those abused by family. Additionally, 70 per cent of these cases went unreported to the police.
Bobo suffered from sexual abuse when she was in primary school and middle school. Photo: Irene Chan/HKFP.
The NGO said in a 2022 press release that some victims felt “retraumatised” when they revealed the abuse to other family members.
Bobo, who was sexually abused by a family member when she was in primary school and secondary school, told HKFP in mid-June that she was unable to seek help when she was younger.
“I did not understand what was happening at first. When I realised [it was sexual assault], I had a lot of concerns: Will the whole family be destroyed simply because of me?” Bobo – who is using a pseudonym – said in Cantonese.
She said she lived in fear and depression for a long time, and had sought professional assistance. However, until this year, Hong Kong did not require – by law – certain professionals to report suspected child abuse cases . Besides, another family member had barred her from reporting the case to the police herself.
Bobo eventually made a statement at a police station after she began working. Her case is now awaiting further investigation.
Booklets published by the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women on sexual assault and sexual law reform. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Bobo said she felt the current legal system was unfair to victims of persistent sexual assault as it is difficult for them to clearly recall every episode after many years of suffering. She also said that sentences for some offenders were far too light.
In 2023, a renovation worker was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to 15 offences relating to the sexual assault of his daughter when she was between the ages of six and 11. The victim told the court that she had started to think about suicide while in primary school, local media reported .
Mui said that, when the perpetrator of persistent abuse was charged over isolated incidents, she was unable to share the whole story in the courtroom, ultimately affecting her family’s perceptions of the case.
Most of Mui’s family members and relatives did not support Mui’s decision to report the situation to authorities. Mui’s mother eventually chose to testify in favour of the stepfather.
Laws modernised to reflect reality
Doris Chong, executive director of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, said Hong Kong has seen various types of sexual assault over the past 20 years – other than rape and indecent assault – where archaic laws have proven ineffective.
Doris Chong, executive director of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, spoke to HKFP in early July, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
In early 2024, a group of female victims gathered online to report a hidden form of sexual assault after they were all splashed around the buttocks with liquid in public.
The police later arrested a man and charged him with common assault, as Hong Kong had no sexual offence corresponding to such conduct.
As part of the sex crime reforms, the government has proposed repealing the offence of indecent assault and introducing two new offences, including sexual assault involving touching and sexual assault without touching.
The new offences would target conduct in which perpetrators use body parts, or things such as clothes, to sexually touch victims, as well as cases where someone emits bodily liquid, or spills liquid, onto victims.
Charlene, one of the victims who started the online campaign, stated through We are X at the press conference that she felt relieved knowing new sexual offences might tackle cases of liquid-splashing onto intimate parts.
“I couldn’t describe my experience for a long time until I found the phrase ‘splashing unknown liquid onto intimate areas’,” Charlene said, “I want to say thank you to myself who never let go of the problem.”
Hong Kong is now mulling radical reforms of its sex crime laws. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Meanwhile, the government also seeks to expand the scope of rape. Under current laws, rape is legally defined only as a man’s penile penetration of a woman’s vagina without her consent.
The offence should be expanded to cover male victims, and non-consensual penetration of the vagina, anus, or urethra using any body part or any objects, authorities have proposed. Currently, such non-consensual acts are classified as forms of assault.
Chong said the NGO welcomed the broader definition of rape, but strongly advocated for changing the name of the offence from rape to “sexual assault by penetration.”
According to the group, the word “rape,” especially the Chinese term, often evokes the stereotype of an assailant using physical force against a victim who actively resists.
This does not align with every victim’s experience, the group said, adding that this would limit the public’s understanding of penetrative sexual assault.
What is consent?
Janelle, a sexual assault victim and a member of We are X, said in early July at a press conference that many victims were challenged in court as to why they did not resist while being assaulted.
Janelle, a sexual assault victim and a member of We are X, spoke to the press on July 8, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
While Hong Kong laws acknowledge that one of the key elements of rape or other sexual offences is that victims do not consent to sexual activity, there is no definition of “consent” in law.
Many would therefore assume that, if a victim does not fight back violently, then they must have given consent, Janelle said.
The government recognised the loopholes. It proposed in the reforms that a person can only give consent if they have the capacity to do so freely and voluntarily. It also lists 11 circumstances where victims will be considered as not consenting to sexual activity.
For example, it would not be considered consensual if a victim is asleep, unconscious, or intoxicated. If they do not provide consent verbally or through their actions, or if a victim is illegally detained or under threat, the situation would also not be considered consensual.
Janelle said that while We are X agrees with the need to redefine consent, its members were concerned that defendants could still be acquitted by arguing that they had an “honest but mistaken belief” as to whether consent was provided.
Hong Kong’s sexual offence laws have not been updated for decades. File Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
The Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women said that in many court cases, even when the prosecutor had proven that the victim did not give consent, the defence would win an acquittal by arguing that the suspect misunderstood the victim.
The NGO and We are X therefore hope reforms will take note of the loopholes by stipulating clearly in law when the defence can and cannot argue that there was an “honest but mistaken belief” regarding consent.
‘Don’t be afraid’
A one-month public consultation for the sex crime reforms ends on August 5. The Legislative Council discussed the consultation paper on July 7, with lawmakers asking questions revolving around new offences, the definition of consent, and the protection of children.
Elaine Chik, a lawmaker for the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, asked in the legislature why the government did not establish the offence of persistent child sexual abuse, as seen in other common law jurisdictions.
In response, security minister Chris Tang told lawmakers that the government had spoken to legal groups in 2000 and 2001. It considered that such a new offence would be unfair to defendants, as the charge did not specify the need to lay out the details of incidents.
Mui, a victim of persistent child sexual abuse. Photo: Irene Chan/HKFP.
Jessie, a member of We are X, told local media that they were not asking for the law to be overhauled so defendants could be more easily convicted; rather, they were asking for a fair legal process and less harm for victims during the legal process.
“It means a lot for sexual assault survivors when the law starts to use accurate wording to describe the victims’ experiences, because it means that what they have experienced is real,” Janelle said.
‘We are X’: Hong Kong moves to reform its archaic sex laws, but victims of prolonged child sexual abuse feel left out
Aggregated summary from an independent source. Read the original at HKFP.