Hong Kong plans to add a persistent child-abuse offence to its proposed sexual-offences reforms, covering repeated abuse over a period when a child may be unable to provide exact dates and details for every alleged incident. The offence is part of a planned legislative amendment and is not yet in force.
The Government said it had decided to include the offence after considering the results of a public consultation. The proposal is intended to address cases in which the nature of repeated abuse makes a precise incident-by-incident account difficult.
The city's bar association welcomed the proposal and supported it in principle, while calling for sufficient safeguards to ensure that defendants receive a fair trial.
The consultation ran from 7 July to 5 August 2026 and received 6,228 written submissions. Of these, 6,182, or 99.3%, supported the reform or gave it a positive evaluation. Forty submissions raised questions or suggestions without stating a position, while six opposed the reform or expressed other views.
The wider amendments are also expected to criminalise online nudity. Sexually explicit images produced with artificial intelligence are being considered separately by a subcommittee reviewing computer-network crimes; officials said the public would be consulted on issues such as sexually explicit deepfake images when appropriate, and that legislation would be studied in response to its recommendations. The Government plans to submit the sexual-offences amendments to the Legislative Council for scrutiny within 2026.