Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women's response to the release of Report on Voyeurism and Non-consensual upskirt-photography by the Law Reform Commission

Loopholes remain open under Law Reform's latest Voyeurism and Upskirting patches proposal

HONG KONG, 30 April 2019  –  The Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVAW, or the Association) would express its anticipation and concerns towards the release of the Law Reform Commission's (LRC) Report on Voyeurism and Non-consensual upskirt-photography on 30th April 2019.

The LRC's latest report recommends that a specific offence of voyeurism should be introduced along the lines of section 67 of the English Sexual Offences Act 2003 to criminalise acts of non-consensual observation or visual recording of another person for a sexual purpose. The report has also taken the opinions from survivors of sexual violence, the Association, various women's rights concern groups, and other individuals to propose on criminalising the act of 'upskirting' through a specific offence. The Association hopes that after the implementation of proposed legislation, the Police will be able to strengthen its enforcement to tackle image-based sexual abuse of such kinds with more proactive approach to inspect for 'spycams' in public spaces and crack down on the offenders.

However, the LRC's report has not been able to patch the following loopholes on image-based sexual abuse:

1.     The LRC's proposal only covers the unauthorised photography of the lower part of one's body. The equally common 'downblouse' photography has not been specifically illegalised in this case, the Association suggests the expansion of legislation to cover unauthorised photography of both 'upskirting' and 'downblousing'. The Association expects the Department of Justice to follow up on the LRC's report and introduce the bill into legislation promptly. 

2.     Besides 'upskirting', the Association has also been made aware of the rampancy of various forms of image-based sexual abuse, these behaviours include but are not limited to:

·      The non-consensual distribution of intimate image(s), e.g. uploading to the internet, and/or share to the third party. 

·      The use of intimate image(s) to blackmail, threaten, or control for sex. 

·      The non-consensual selling or printing of intimate image(s). 

The Association worries that the loopholes within the current laws and LRC's report would continue to encourage the behaviours mentioned above and cause persisting harms to victims. Laws to tackle these behaviours have been implemented in other jurisdictions including Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand. The Association urges the LRC and the government to look into establishing specific offenses to criminalise different forms image-based sexual abuse. 

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