Hong Kong survivors say sexual offence reforms leave legal gaps

Hong Kong is seeking to overhaul decades-old sexual offence laws, but survivors and activists say proposed reforms still leave gaps in how the legal system handles consent, trauma and long-term child abuse.

Jessie, an NGO worker in her 30s, said she froze in panic when she was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance one summer and was unable to resist while he proceeded without her consent. Years later, she testified against him, but said she felt oppressed and helpless when the man was acquitted.

She said a defence lawyer asked why she had not fought back by biting or hitting him. Jessie said the court did not consider that fear had made her unable to resist. The judge ruled that the defendant may have honestly but mistakenly believed she consented. He was acquitted without testifying.

In many countries, the report says, mistaken belief and implied consent are not legally valid defences in sexual offence trials. Hong Kong's current sexual offence laws are less stringent, and the city opened broad reforms to public consultation this month. The proposed changes would introduce stricter penalties for sexual crimes, but Jessie and other survivors say they still do not bar a defence based on mistaken belief.

Florence Tsang, a trauma counsellor at the sexual violence crisis centre RainLily, said reforms should take account of victim-survivors' traumatic reactions. She said such reactions are often misunderstood or interpreted as consent or as a failure to refuse.

Activists also say the proposed reforms do not do enough to protect children subjected to long-term sexual abuse, who may struggle to recall details because of repeated trauma. In Hong Kong, prosecutions address assault as isolated incidents, which critics say fails to reflect the severity of prolonged abuse.

Mui, speaking under a pseudonym, said her stepfather assaulted her more than 100 times over seven years. She said she spent months using her diary, iPod recordings and memory to piece together details before bringing charges. She said recounting the events in police interviews was intensely distressing and that she broke down in tears each time. Prosecutors proceeded with five incidents, and her stepfather was found guilty this year on four counts of rape and indecent assaults and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Mui said the harm she suffered could not be defined only by the number of charges.

Bobo, who also spoke anonymously, said she endured similar abuse as a child and considered the current laws unfair. She said the time her abuser violated her was probably longer than the prison sentence he may receive, and said she had struggled to live a normal life despite the trauma.

RainLily said that of nearly 2,000 sexual violence victims whose cases it handled between 2019 and 2023, all of them women, around 40 percent reported their case to police, often years after the abuse. Tsang said victims are often cross-examined during lengthy legal proceedings, which can deepen their sense of guilt.

Official data showed that only around 27 percent of people arrested for sexual offences in Hong Kong were convicted between 2021 and 2025. In cases involving children, the conviction rate was about 9 percent.

Taura Edgar, a victim-turned-advocate at the TALK support group, said the government must urgently close critical gaps in the law. She estimated that 16 percent of children in Hong Kong suffer sexual abuse and said the absence of a separate offence for persistent child sexual abuse was a glaring loophole.

Jessie said victims' efforts may be made futile unless clear limits are introduced against mistaken belief in consent. She said victims were asking whether trials could be less traumatic and involve fewer unreasonable questions, and whether victims' rights could be brought more in line with those of the accused.