Combatting child abuse; illegal parking

8:30am-9:15am: combatting child abuse

8:30am-9:15am: Samantha Gershon, Family lawyer, partner in the Hong Kong family team at Withers

8:30am-9:15am: Amanda Whitfort, Associate Professor, HKU’s Faculty of Law 

8:30am-9:00am: Dr Patrick Cheung, Chairperson, Against Child Abuse

9:00am-9:15am: Eni Lestari, the chairwoman of the International Migrants Alliance

9:15am-9:30am: illegal parking

9:15am-9:30am: James Ockenden, Founder and Editor of Transit Jam; Producer of radio show ‘Wham Bam Tram!’

On Tuesday's Backchat: Combatting child abuse; and illegal parking.

The welfare secretary, Law Chi-kwong, has spoken in support of a proposal from the Law Reform Commission to create a new criminal offence targeting people who fail to protect children at risk from abuse.

A sub-committee launched a public consultation exercise in 2019 and has now put forward its recommendations, which also cover protection for the elderly and people with disabilities. Anyone failing to take action to protect the vulnerable, such as making a report to the police, could face a lengthy prison term if the victim suffers serious harm or dies.

It said the law should cover anyone who has a duty of care, including members of the same household, relatives, domestic helpers, social workers and teachers.

After 9:15am, as we prepare to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, we'll take a look at illegal parking as the police warn drivers who park where they are not supposed to that their vehicles could get multiple tickets.