Limited preventive measures and inadequate supports for sexual violence in MTR
ACSVAW Launches Survey Report on Sexual Violence Experience in MTR
HONG KONG, 26 September 2020 – The Gender-friendly Environment Group (The Group) under the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (the Association) today has conducted an online survey on public experience of encountering or witnessing sexual violence in MTR in the past three years, and collected 419 valid responses. The Association has launched its latest report 'Survey Report on Sexual Violence Experience in MTR 港鐵遭遇性暴力經驗問卷調查報告' at a press conference, with the attendance of Executive Director of the Association Linda S.Y. Wong, Community Organiser Oskar Wan, Members of The Group Lau Chi Ting and Wong Ka Kee. The press conference emphasizes MTR, as a public transportation service provider, should protect passengers from experiencing sexual violence, and provide immediate support for the victims of sexual violence.
Summary of the Survey Report:
According to the survey report, more than 70% of interviewees (300 interviewees) have experienced sexual violence in MTR districts, and around 40% of interviewees (166 interviewees) have witnessed sexual violence in MTR districts. Nevertheless, only 1% of interviewees who have experienced sexual violence mentioned 'there were MTR staff provided assistance'; as for the remaining (297) interviewees, more than 40% believed that 'staff could not provide any effective assistance' (131 interviewees) and 'did not see any staff nearby' (127 interviewees). Among the interviewees who have witnessed sexual violence, only 3.6% of them chose to 'notify MTR staff' after the incident. There are 160 responses on the reasons of not reporting to MTR staff, and more than 40% of them (60 interviewees) chose the options of 'did not see any staff nearby' and 'felt that the staff could not provide effective assistance'.
The survey report shows that 93.6% of interviewees think the policies and instructions of MTR are inadequate for preventing the passengers from experiencing sexual violence, and more than 70% of interviewees think MTR is highly responsible for protecting passengers against sexual violence. From the public opinions of recommendations towards MTR in the survey, most interviewees chose 'provide more accessible help-seeking information', 'Enhance the promotion on the prevention of sexual violence' and 'provide guidelines and trainings for staff'. Community Organiser of The Association Oskar Wan stated that the survey result has reflected the MTR's inadequacy of preventive and support information of sexual violence, and related guidelines to staff. Therefore, the Association would like to make the following recommendations for improvement.
Recommendations:
Enhance the Feasibility of Help-seeking Channels and Related Measurements
Due to the rapid occurrence of sexual violence incidents, MTR staff and related measurements required certain level of accessibility to assist the victims and bystanders of sexual violence. The MTR hotline and MTR Mobile App seem to be the most effective and highly accessible help-seeking channels, therefore the Association recommended an improvement of the friendliness and effectiveness of these two channels. The MTR hotline is currently a pre-recording, which prolongs the time of help-seeking and hence lowers the chance of catching the perpetrator. The Association suggested to add an option of directly contacting the staff from the hotline.
Moreover, the artificial intelligence system of MTR Mobile App is not able to detect words related to sexual violence, such as 'indecent assault', 'sexual harassment' and 'upskirting'. Therefore, MTR should upgrade the system to identify keywords related to sexual violence. When the app system receives related keywords, it should direct to the hotline services, or ask the users to provide their exact location in order to arrange a staff member to intervene. Although most platforms have provided intercoms, but with a limited number and unclear instructions of the exact location, the Association recommended to increase the number of intercoms and provide maps and signs locating the intercoms, in order to encourage its usage.
Strengthen the Promotion of Sexual Violence Related Information and Encourage Bystanders' Actions
As the society is reserved and feel shameful towards sex, it is often difficult for victims to speak up. The role of bystanders is therefore important in sexual violence incidents. An increase of active bystanders would effectively increase the cost of committing sexual crimes, and therefore helpful in combating sexual violence in MTR. MTR could increase the number of posters and advertisements on anti-sexual violence and encouraging bystanders' actions, for example, 'stop the crime if you witness sexual harassment' instead of 'don't be silent'. More accurate wordings are helpful for victims to increase their willingness to seek help.
Increase Staff Training and Publicise Related Guidelines
The Association recommended the MTR should equip all staff with the ability of handling sexual violence incidents, including the handling skills and methods, ability of considering victims’ feelings and predicament, and providing options other than reporting to police (such as organizations or institutions supporting sexual violence victims). It is also advised to increase staff patrols in train compartments regularly at the most frequent route of experiencing sexual violence to deter criminals and provide immediate support for victims and bystanders of sexual violence. The Association would also like to have MTR publicized the staff guidelines on handing related crimes, allowing the public to understand and review on the effectiveness of its contingency measurements.
From the survey report, it can be seen that MTR's handling and preventive measurements regarding sexual violence incidents still need to be improved. The Gender-friendly Environment Group member Lau Chi Ting and Wong Ka Kee expressed that The Group has been approaching and providing recommendations related to gender-friendly facilitates to MTR for the past two years, however MTR has never directly responded to our demands; MTR mentioned reporting to police officers for several times in their written responses (Appendix 1) , and seemed to be shirking the responsibilities, and neglected the higher feasibility of staff and its social responsibilities on protecting its passengers. Linda S.Y. Wong, Executive Director of The Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women, hopes that MTR could take reference from the above recommendations and anti-sexual violence measurements by the railway corporations of other countries, communicate and collaborate with different organisations. Linda also encourages sexual violence victims to seek help from RainLily.
Full Survey Report: https://rainlily.org.hk/publication/2020/mtrsv
From left to right: Members of The Group Lau Chi Ting, Executive Director of the Association Linda S.Y. Wong, Community Organiser Oskar Wan, and Members of The Group Wong Ka Kee