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Opinion | What Hong Kong can do to stop abuse of domestic helpers

  • Most abuse cases are not reported by Hong Kong’s 390,000 foreign domestic workers, say many officials
  • Axing the live-in rule and two-week deadline to leave the city after a contract expires could reduce helper abuse cases

Reading Time:4 minutes
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Many cases of employer abuse among Hong Kong’s 390,000 domestic helpers go unreported, many officials say. Photo: Dickson Lee

Foreign domestic workers can be seen in large groups every weekend in Hong Kong, meeting up on footpaths and in tunnels, in parks and open spaces, making the most of their one day off a week. They seem content, even happy, chatting and playing cards, dancing and applying cosmetics.

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But behind closed doors, too many of these workers are abused. Many live uncomfortable lives: exploited, expected to work ridiculously long hours, shouted at, and even beaten. Yet Hong Kong’s foreign worker regulations ensure they have difficulty leaving even the worst of employers.

Each year, two consulates in Hong Kong – those of the Philippines and Indonesia – receive thousands of complaints from their citizens who work as helpers, alleging physical, verbal, financial and psychological abuse at the hands of their employers. However, many officials believe most cases of abuse are not reported by Hong Kong’s 390,000 domestic workers.

To meet internationally agreed humanitarian goals – for example, articles 7 and 25 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families – and for reasons of basic humanity, it is time to take firm action to change this situation.

Baby Jane Allas, a Filipino domestic worker in Hong Kong, was awarded damages in April 2019 after being sacked following her diagnosis with cervical cancer. Photo: AFP
Baby Jane Allas, a Filipino domestic worker in Hong Kong, was awarded damages in April 2019 after being sacked following her diagnosis with cervical cancer. Photo: AFP
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Government officials from the Philippines and Indonesia – the nations that send the most domestic workers to Hong Kong – should work swiftly with their counterparts in Hong Kong to protect the safety and well-being of domestic workers in the city, and that includes changing the relevant employment regulations.

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