Eight in 10 victims of sexual violence know their attackers, and many are afraid to report incidents to police, Hong Kong study shows
Study carried out over 17 years finds that many victims felt too ashamed to come forward and get the help they need
Eight in 10 victims of sexual offences in Hong Kong are harmed by people they know, with one-third of them being sexually violated for at least a month, according to an advocacy and support group’s data over a 17-year period.
But about half of victims did not report the cases to the police, which researchers attributed to a conservative culture where victims felt too ashamed and a system where they felt forced to choose between police assistance or seeking medical help, rather than getting both at the same time.
The study by RainLily, released on Wednesday, looked at 3,501 sexual violence cases the group worked on between 2000 and last year. The study found 82 per cent of the cases involved people the victims knew, with schoolmates and friends, current or former intimate partners, workmates and family members the most frequent offenders.
Some 1,000 cases, or 31 per cent, involved continuous sexual violence, with 34 cases lasting a decade or longer.
“It’s a great concern that so many cases involved close friends or family members,” said pathologist Dr Philip Beh of the University of Hong Kong, who helped RainLily with the research. “Even more worrying is that in so many cases, it took such a long time for the victims to seek help.”
The research found 64 per cent of all the cases involved rape, 30 per cent involved sexual assault and 6 per cent involved sexual harassment.
