【2023 Professional Forum on Child Protection: Child Sexual Abuse in Cyber World】 

ACA Professional Forum on Child Protection was successfully held on 3 March, with nearly 146 professionals attended. The five guest speakers shared with participants about a local study on adolescent sexual knowledge, attitude and behaviour; an overview of trends and patterns of child sexual abuse in the cyber world, preventive work and police investigation procedures; Meta’s policies, methods, tools and resources on protecting children for online safety and privacy; the impact of sexual abuse on the psychological development and well-being of child victims; the status and handling of online child sexual abuse cases and child sexual abuse materials, and preventive services. 

In recent years, there has been an increase in cybercrime and child sexual grooming cases. We hope that all sectors of society will pay attention to children's physical and mental health as well as cyber security. The government and stakeholders could work together to formulate strategies in the aspects of legislation, system, education, and services to combat cybercrime, and prevent children from sexual abuse; parents also need to arrange more parent-child activities with their children to establish a good family relationship and prevent children from using or even indulging in electronic products for a long time. If families encounter difficulties, they may seek help from our Parent-child Support Line 2755 1122 which allows parents to consult about child management issues.

We thank the guest speakers for their professional sharing, our Chairperson, Dr. Patrick Cheung and Executive Committee Member, Dr. Anna Cheng for hosting and leading the discussion, and the participants for their active participation.

1. Rundown 2. Prologue 3. Guest Speakers Sharing     Topic 1 Local Study on Youth Sexual Health      Topic 2 Trends and Case Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse     Topic 3 Meta’s Approach to Children Safety and Privacy Online     Topic 4 Psychological Impacts of Sexual Abuse on Children and Youths     Topic 5 Intervention Services for Children and Youths