A child welfare group said on Thursday the government should consider expanding laws to prohibit corporal punishment in all settings, including at home.

People are banned from carrying out such punishment in schools, organisations, child centres and other public venues under existing laws.

Against Child Abuse made the call as it handled 1,144 enquiries, including 207 cases of suspected child abuse reports, over the past year.

That converts to roughly 12 percent more abuse reports than a year ago.

A majority of reports lodged over the past year involved physical punishment.

Director Maple Lau stressed that corporal punishment did not solve problems and could become an intergenerational practice.

The group also saw an increase in reports made by professionals from 80 in 2022/23 to about 210 in the past year, with two months to go before the Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance takes effect on January 20.

The law requires 25 categories of professionals from the social welfare, education and healthcare sectors to report suspected serious maltreatment cases.

Chairman Patrick Cheung said the upward trend came with increasing awareness on the part of many professionals of possible abuses.

“In 2024, when the mandatory reporting ordinance was gazetted, and one year or two years before that, there was heated debate in the Legislative Council.

"So that raised a lot of awareness amongst the professionals.”

Lau expects more people to turn to her group to enquire about specific circumstances when the law takes effect and said it will step up support for them.

The government should, she added, also provide better support, such as training for professionals and arranging emergency placement services to ensure that the ordinance is effective.