With the help of pro bono legal research, a Hong Kong NGO is advancing reform of laws on child sexual abuse.
Hong Kong is one step closer to expanding access to justice for survivors of child sexual abuse, thanks to a far-reaching pro bono partnership between a Hong Kong NGO and law firms Lewis Silkin and Karas So LLP facilitated by PILnet.
In what many call a long-overdue reform, the Hong Kong government opened public consultations in July 2026 to amend its child sexual abuse laws. While other jurisdictions have already updated their laws to account for problems specific to child sexual abuse cases and remove the high barriers to prosecution, Hong Kong remains in the early stages of this process. The Hong Kong-based Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVAW), has been at the forefront of the effort to raise awareness about sexual violence and provide support to survivors since 1997. The organization turned to PILnet in May 2025 with a request for a multi-jurisdictional comparative legal research that could inform their efforts to advance legal reform in this area.
Child sexual abuse is often persistent in nature, with multiple instances of abuse occuring over long periods of time, and delayed reporting is common due to the sensitive nature of the crime, making it notoriously difficult to successfully prosecute. In Hong Kong, every alleged incident of abuse must be prosecuted as a separate charge, such that survivors of persistent child sexual abuse must provide details (like precise dates and times) of every single instance of abuse that may have occurred over the course of months or years. The repetitive and traumatic nature of abuse over long periods of time means that survivors are often unable to describe each and every incident of abuse in enough detail to meet evidentiary thresholds. What’s more, requiring extended testimony from survivors, especially children, risks retraumatizing them.
PILnet connected ACSVAW with pro bono lawyers at Lewis Silkin and Karas So LLP to review existing laws, policies, and prosecution practices in Hong Kong, as well as past recommendations for legal reform, and to similarly review existing laws, policies, and practices in multiple jurisdictions with legal systems similar to Hong Kong’s (England & Wales, Scotland, Canada, and Australia).
The result was a comprehensive and detailed report, which ACSVAW continuously refers to when crafting their position papers and advocacy strategy in the child sexual abuse law reform process.
“The original scope of the research was only about laws and policies related to child sexual abuse, but the law firms went above and beyond, even looking into how other jurisdictions provide extra support to child sexual abuse survivors throughout the judicial process.” said Cheryl Yip, a representative of ACSVAW.
The cooperation with the law firms deepened even after the research and report delivery. Some of the lawyers who worked on the project also attended ACSVAW public symposiums on sexual abuse law reform in Hong Kong.
“Every child deserves the protection of laws that reflect the realities of abuse, and every survivor deserves a system that gives them justice without re-traumatising them,” said Jezamine Fewins, Head of Litigation with Lewis Silkin. “We are proud to have worked with ACSVAW and PILnet in advancing meaningful reform in Hong Kong.”
This project is an extension of an existing partnership, with ACSVAW having previously cooperated with PILnet, most recently on facilitating pro bono assistance to those who have experienced sexual harassment to file complaints before Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission.