Hong Kong lawmakers ask for closure of potential loophole that could let some professionals escape penalty for failure to report child abuse
- Lawmakers say they fear some people working with children may escape prosecution for failing to report suspected cases because their jobs are not well defined in bill
- Audiologists, clinical psychologists, dietitians, educational psychologists and speech therapists are those affected
Lawmakers scrutinising the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Bill on Saturday said they feared some people who worked with children, although given professional status, might not be fully covered by descriptions in the draft legislation.
The five affected jobs are audiologists, clinical psychologists, dietitians, educational psychologists and speech therapists.
Lawmakers said it could leave a loophole for some to escape prosecution for failure to report child abuse by changing their job titles to something else.
“To give an example, the bill mentions a person who claims to practise as a dietitian,” legislator Lai Tung-kwok said.
“I have looked online – in mainland China, these people are not called dietitians, they are called public dietitians and are separated into four levels.
