Establishing Specific Offences to Criminalise 'Upskirting' Acts 《以特定罪行刑事化「裙底偷拍」行為》
In recent years, clandestine photo-taking has become a serious problem, with 285 reported cases in 2017 and 313 in 2016. One of the most rampant forms of clandestine photo-taking is upskirting, which involves taking photos or videos of a person from beneath their clothing without their consent. In the past three years, there have been 327 reported cases of upskirting in MTR areas alone, with an average of 100 cases annually. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the number only includes incidents that took place in railway areas.
Unfortunately, Hong Kong does not have a specific law against clandestine photo-taking, and the police use public order-related laws to make arrests, such as loitering, disorderly conduct in a public place, and acts outraging public decency. This means that clandestine photo-taking within personal and private relationships is not covered by existing criminal charges, leaving victims of sexual violence with insufficient protection. The Law Reform Commission has proposed a new offence of 'voyeurism' to address this issue, and to let the public know that clandestine photo-taking and observation are intrusions on others' rights and sexual autonomy. However, it has been noted that the new offence might not cover acts of upskirting.
This paper presents the Association's recommendations for improving the proposal of the new offence of 'voyeurism' by extending its coverage to include upskirting. We sincerely hope that the government will carry out these reforms as soon as possible.
「裙底偷拍」是指某人在另一人不知情的情況下，以照片、錄影帶或數碼影像等形式 觀察或記錄其私處或臀部。「裙底偷拍」行為十分普遍，根據香港警務署的數字，在 鐵路區域接獲涉及「裙底偷拍」的舉報數字，每年平均有 100 宗;偷拍者全為男性， 受害者全為女性，包括未成年女性，最小的年僅 8 歲。但官方數字僅僅限於香港鐵路 的範圍，未有記錄發生在其他公共場域的數字，例如商場扶手電梯、巴士，實際的猖獗程度遠遠超越官方數字所反映的。
香港法律改革委員會的性罪行檢討小組委員會(下稱小組委員會)自 2012 年，共發表了三份性罪行改革的諮詢文件，包括 2012 年的《強姦及其他未經同意下進行的性罪 行》，2016 年的《涉及兒童及精神缺損人士的性罪行》以及最近在 2018 年中旬發表的 《雜項性罪行》。小組委員會在第一份諮詢文件中建議擴大性侵犯的定義，涵蓋本質 涉及性的「非接觸式」侵犯，以針對在公眾或私人地方所進行的「裙底攝影」。另外， 小組委員會在最新發表的《雜項性罪行》諮詢中建議參照英格蘭《2003 年性罪行法令》 第 67 條，新訂一項特定的窺淫罪，但新罪行未能涵蓋「裙底偷拍」此類同屬窺淫的行為。
關注婦女性暴力協會(下稱協會)一直倡議性罪行法律改革，包括將裙底偷拍的行為 刑事化，以傳遞一個清晰的訊息予公眾:偷拍裙底是剝奪了受害人的性自主權，因為 受害人的私密部位在其不知情或不情願的情況下暴露於第三者，是性罪行。協會歡迎 小組委員會正視「裙底偷拍」的法律改革議題，因為現時並沒用針對這類犯法行為的 特定罪行，控方往往難以找到正確的控罪作出檢控。現時就此類刑事行為所提出的控 罪，通常是「在公眾地方行為不檢」、「遊蕩」，或「作出有違公德的行為」這項普通法罪行。
以上述三項在公眾地方擾亂秩序的罪行檢控偷拍，皆不能反映罪行的嚴重性。公眾罪 行主要針對被告人破壞了公眾秩序和安全，重點在於懲治在公眾地方發生的各式各樣 不檢行為，而不是針對「裙底攝影」。這些控罪未能帶出此行為的性本質，更遑論突顯對性自主權的侵犯，不能指出犯罪行為對受害人帶來的影響，被告人承受的標籤不足以彌補受害人的心理創傷。