””””HONG KONG, Oct. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- With US web-sites flooding the internet and real
world with text on pornography, the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR)
government is making laws to protect children from being exploited for
pornography purposes.
””””One who wants to know how abysmal the situation needs only to use internet
search engines, such as, Comet and Google to discoverthe vast legally
questionable pictures and videos on sale, which depict girls seemingly under the
age of 16 engaging in explicit sexual act.
””””Just to illustrate how vile the situation is, a simple entry ofthe two word
"child pornography" on the US-based comet search conducted Thursday leads to a
startling 77,900 links on free childpornography pictures within a mere 0.18
second of search time.
””””Many of these productions were produced in the United States orEurope, but
given the increasingly globalized and digitized world,such promiscuous materials
are either being spontaneously broadcast or compulsively exported to the four
corners of the world, severely contaminating the spiritual health of many
nationsand regions.
””””Eliza Yau, HKSAR Principal Assistant Secretary for Security told the HKSAR
Legislative Council Thursday that questionable materials of this sort discovered
on sale in certain derelict cul-de-sacs of some seedy parts of Hong Kong were
all foreign-produced.No Hong Kong-produced ones were found so far, she said.
””””But to better comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child, which applies to the Hong Kong SAR, and to guard against the possible
production of such obscene materials here, the HKSAR government is currently
finalizing details of the Prevention of Child Pornography Bill.
””””The government was standing firm during the council's bills committee
meeting Thursday that the gloss "a person who is, or appears to be, a person
under the age of 16" be retained for the law to be effective in cracking down on
any image or objects that "depicts a person who is or appears to be engaged in
explicitly sexual conduct or, in a manner or context, genitals or anal regionof
a person or the breast of a female person."
””””The gloss "any person who is, or appears to be under the age of16" caused
slight controversy at the council due to the alleged difficulty the court may
face in establishing evidence against thepersons who possess or produce
materials depicting minor that "appears to be" under 16.
””””However, Senior Government Counsel of the HKSAR Department of Justice Lynda
Shine assertively stated the government's position that the "appears to be"
gloss must be retained to effectively enforced the law in future.
””””"If you takes out the words 'appears to be,' you are going to be left in a
situation where both the police and prosecutors, based on the materials in a
situation that is read, have to prove that the person depicted is actually under
the age of 16.
””””"Now this is impossible in the context of films that was already produced
overseas, and of the position of people in Hong Kong, whether they ordered them
on internet or however they obtained them. This is impossible for us to comply
with our international obligation.
””””"I must tell you that unless you have the evidence, before the court, of
the young girl's birth certificate, you will never get aprosecution," Shine
explained.
””””Legislative Councilor David Chu Yu Lin conceded to Shine's opinion, saying,
"The grey area surely exists.... The fact that the age is set at 16 is, I find,
very reasonable. In the law enforcement process, if the innocent are affected
one day, the court can prove them innocent.
””””"The direction of protecting children is right, and the draft bill is fine.
Hong Kong has very good magistrates and judges to rule in a discerning manner,"
Chu said. Enditem
””””
””
””