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Hong Kong
OpinionComment
Grenville Cross
Grenville Cross

Opinion | Why are Hong Kong’s young still bearing the brunt of prejudice and discrimination?

  • Whether aimed at ethnic minority pupils, the children of mainland Chinese parents or local autistic children, discrimination is alive and well
  • More laws are not enough, we should take a hard look at ourselves and cherish differences, not revile them

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Kindergarten students attend a Chinese music class at Integrated Brilliance Education, which aims to empower underprivileged non-Chinese-speaking children in Hong Kong, on October 26. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Grenville Cross

“Discrimination is not done by villains, it’s done by us,” said Vivienne Ming, the neuroscientist. Although condemned, discrimination remains prevalent, and while adults can sometimes cope, children often cannot and face lasting damage. In a city acclaimed for its quality of life, this situation is intolerable.

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On September 8, the UN Development Programme issued its latest Human Development Index, which surveyed 191 places in terms of human development, being knowledgeable and having a decent standard of living, with Hong Kong ranked fourth. Although impressive, this rating belies the discrimination in key areas.

Equality of treatment is enshrined in the Basic Law and although laws exist to combat discrimination because of disability, gender, family status or race, some people fall between the gaps. Legislation notwithstanding, the prejudices that beget discrimination are hard to erase.

In 2018, for example, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reported that fewer than half of Hong Kong employers, when asked about ideal job candidates, wanted to hire women with children, even if they were no less competent than other applicants.
That same year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on Hong Kong to show its education policies were facilitating the integration of ethnic minority pupils, rather than causing “social marginalisation and segregation”. Last year, the EOC reported that it had received many complaints of discrimination against people from mainland China, and empirical research shows why.
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When the Society of Community Organisation conducted a survey between May 2019 and January last year, nearly three in five adult mainland immigrants and one in three children complained of everyday prejudice, and this often persisted no matter how long they lived in Hong Kong.
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