Hong Kong police chief warns of online grooming as over 1,300 child sexual abuse cases recorded in past 2 years
Hong Kong recorded a total of 1,359 child sexual abuse cases during the past two years, with 7 per cent of the cases linked to the internet, the city’s police have said.
Police told HKFP on Thursday that they recorded 696 cases of sex crimes against children in 2023, while the figure fell by around 4.7 per cent in 2024, to 663 cases.
During the launch event of a comic book series on child protection on Tuesday, Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu said that the Hong Kong Police Force recorded 10 cases of online grooming involving children in the first two months of 2025.
According to the police chief, two of the cases involved rape, with victims as young as 12 years old.
The figures “highlighted the severity and alarming rising trend of online grooming,” Siu said.
Bear in mind that the number of child sex abuse events reported to the police make up a very small minority of the actual number of events. In many countries it is well below 10%.
Siu cited an online survey of 2,000 secondary school students from Form One to Form Four, which was conducted by the police force last year.
The survey found that over 60 per cent of the respondents had received explicit messages, been asked for nude photos, or experienced other forms of online grooming. Some were even lured into meetings for sexual exploitation, the police chief said.
Using social media at a young age, having multiple accounts, and spending more time on the internet “significantly increased” the risk of children falling victim to online grooming, he said.
See also: More Hong Kong children fell victim to sexual abuse through online activities in 2023
On Monday, a 41-year-old male secondary school teacher was sentenced to one year and 10 months in jail after pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with and committing indecent assault on a 15-year-old female student.
Good grief! 22 months in jail for what would be aggravated child rape. The child will still be a child when the pervert is loose again. That's not fair!
Duchess Sophie sounds alarm on AI-Generated child abuse imagery
Duchess Sophie warns of 'hyper-realistic' child sex abuse images generated by AI
Duchess Sophie has issued a warning about the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate child sex abuse imagery.
During a two-day trip to Brussels, Belgium, Sophie emphasised the urgent need to tackle online child sexual exploitation and abuse.
"As I speak, AI is being used to generate hyper-realistic child sexual abuse imagery at scale," Sophie said.
She noted that 79% of teenagers are already using generative AI for learning, but are also receiving misleading or dangerous information from chatbots on topics like mental health, suicide, and grooming.
"This underlines the corrosive impact of online abuse and the scale of the challenge we face in tackling it," Duchess said. "It is a challenge we need to tackle urgently, particularly given the emergence of generative AI."
At an event co-hosted by the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights, the Duchess of Edinburgh urged policymakers to prioritise children's safety and well-being.
"Honoured guests – it is in your hands, a task of the utmost and urgent importance, because the lives and futures of millions of children around the world will be affected by what you decide, or do not decide to do."
She implored policymakers to "redouble your efforts in prioritising their safety and well-being so that they are empowered to learn, to play, to grow and to thrive in our world."
The UK Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, joined Sophie at the event and emphasised the need for stronger laws to reduce online child sexual abuse.
God bless you, Sophie!
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Honduras struggles to combat human trafficking
The small Central American country of Honduras has become a hub for a devastating – yet often overlooked – scourge: human trafficking, the third most profitable criminal activity in the world after drug and arms trafficking.
Located between North and South America, Honduras is a key transit point for all kinds of trafficking. Endemic poverty, widespread violence and deep-rooted corruption have made it fertile ground for international human trafficking networks.
Our correspondents Laurence Cuvillier and Matthieu Comin report.
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