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Australian finalists for Prince William's Earthshot Prize 'nervous but excited'

Seventy ranger teams across Central Australia manage bushfires, protect species and use land practices developed over tens of thousands of years. Now their environmental work has been recognised by Prince William.

Australian finalists for Prince William's Earthshot Prize 'nervous but excited'

The Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVAW) has called for stricter consent laws in Hong Kong, following the government's announcement of enhanced protections under upcoming sexual offences reforms. The group, known as We Are X, welcomed the proposal to criminalize persistent child sexual abuse and cyberflashing, which involves sending explicit images without consent.

ACSVAW emphasized the need to provide children who suffer persistent sexual abuse with avenues for legal recourse and protection. However, the group expressed concern over the current legal framework, which permits defendants to argue they mistakenly believed consent was given. ACSVAW and the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVAW) jointly highlighted the government's failure to address situations where defendants rely on the "mistaken belief" defense even when vitiating factors like force, fear, unconsciousness, or deception are present.

The group urged the government to ensure the law accurately reflects the reality of sexual violence and establishes an objective and effective legal framework for assessing "sexual consent" within the judicial system. They also called for stricter measures if the defendant was reckless about consent or intoxicated at the time. ACSVAW further advocated for increased publicity and education efforts to dispel misconceptions about false accusations or lowered conviction thresholds.

The government has stated that prosecution and conviction thresholds will remain unchanged, but it suggested replacing the term "rape" in sex crime laws with "sexual assault by penetration" to clarify that the offense covers all forms of non-consensual penetrative sexual assault, regardless of gender.

Written by urgent.news from Hong Kong Free Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.

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