Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong....
Hong Kong fails to protect human trafficking victims: reportOn 24 March,2014
The report comes at a time of growing anger over the abuse of foreign domestic helpers.
HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong is failing to protect victims of human trafficking for forced labour, a report said Monday, calling for new legislation to prevent "modern-day slavery" in a city which relies heavily on migrant workers.
The report comes at a time of growing anger over the abuse of foreign domestic helpers in the southern Chinese city, and a day before the trial of a Hong Kong employer accused of torturing her Indonesian maid is set to resume.
"Current legislation merely prohibits human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution , but not for the purpose of forced labour or other forms of trafficking," said the joint report by Justice Centre Hong Kong and Liberty Asia.
New legislation expanding the definition of trafficking would help in tackling forced labour abuse by perpetrators including placement agencies, loan companies and employers, it said.
"Recent allegations of domestic helper abuse in Hong Kong bear many of the characteristics of forced labour," said report co-author Victoria Wisniewski Otero, adding that a comprehensive anti-trafficking law could help protect the city s maids.
Hong Kong is home to nearly 300,000 domestic helpers, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, and criticism from rights groups over their treatment is growing.
In January, 44-year-old housewife Law Wan-tung was charged with assault relating to her treatment of her maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, who was reportedly left unable to walk following eight months of abuse. The employer was also charged with abusing two previous Indonesian maids.
Sulistyaningsih had been admitted to an Indonesian hospital in critical condition after returning home.
The incident triggered anger from thousands of domestic helpers who took to the streets of Hong Kong to demand justice.
The problem of forced labour is only deepening as Hong Kong widens its search for cheap sources of labour, according to the report.
"The main reason for trafficking is simple: Hong Kong has a high demand for cheap labour and there is a proximate abundance of supply from neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region," it said.
In February, Hong Kong received its first official group of maids from Myanmar, as the city tries to plug a shortage of domestic helpers.
Around 200 are expected to arrive in the city over the next three months, but activists have expressed fears that Myanmar women are one of the groups most vulnerable to abuse due to their limited skills in English and Cantonese.
In September, a Hong Kong couple were jailed for savagely beating their Indonesian domestic helper, including burning her with an iron and hitting her with a bicycle chain.
Amnesty International in November condemned the "slavery-like" conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong and accused authorities of "inexcusable" inaction.
Comments (41)
hi there baby.....
looking for some itching honey,
wrong door sweetheart ......
i am no Witchy Woman ........
baby i was missing you honey...
what's your poison baby?
but one thing that I don't understand, why peoples have no heart to do something bad like burning her with an iron or hitting her with a bicycle chain. usually they do that when the helper said "no" to what they accused.
the boss when doing all those things like insane and lost their mind.. like devil.
for my poor peoples...
what happened to them is a proof that government cant protect and give our peoples decent life bcos too much corruption...
hi my vanilla....
i was just tickling baby......
hey baby......
i did look baby then you were looking the other side,
yesbaby ......yes
i was looking for the cool guy.....
hi miss.....
i don't think this happens to all of them,
maybe 40/p life itself is risk.....leaving ones home
is not that good but it all depends on ones way of life,
if choices are very very less .....one can only think
for survival.....
but this one was in the UE, they found a body of an african women in someones old freezer
miss.....
if you would say in percentage i can try and understand
when you say in general it happens to all, i disagree,
you mean to say all over the world there is no any more
good people??
no it does happen to everyone,
it's ok maybe you just said, way of talk,
hi baby.....
that unknown was me baby.....me....
There is no happiness without idleness
And only the useless is pleasurable.
Unknown.
hi there sweetheart.....
this unknown is not me baby....not me....
May be that unknown me babes!
define baby....define.....
i meant the unknown honey,
ke visale yaar hota
gar aur jeete rahte
yahi intzaar hota.
mene apko kaise samjavu?
ap the dusre hey na?
jaroor chochloonga fir app ka dippa mey
dek kiyey......
baby.....
i sure like to know the answer for that riddle honey,
but then it is your riddle you can tell only if you
like to.....otherwise it sure is ok with me....
afterall life should not become a riddle ....right baby
be happy sweetheart.....
yes...i was busy on the phone
i will accept your request now.....
i have accepted yours
you can send me ..........
ok...bye now......