Database of maid abuse being compiled to stop agency exploitation

The University of Hong Kong and support groups will use a US$3 million grant from Google to gather evidence to prosecute employment agencies and moneylenders who exploit domestic helpers and harass employers.

Researchers led by anti-slavery charity Liberty Asia are building a high-technology cloud database to collect past and future cases of abuse from groups that assist domestic helpers.

If they discover evidence or patterns of abuse, they will share their findings with Hong Kong authorities to assist with investigations. Researchers from the university's Centre for Comparative and Public Law also plan to produce research based on the findings and help bring cases to court.

"There is rich data already available but it's locked away in NGO offices and there's no way to search across data to understand the trends and make connections," said Xinyi Duan, technical director for Hong Kong-registered Liberty Asia.

Duan is working with local charity Helpers for Domestic Helpers to collect complaints that domestic helpers have made in the past and to create an intake system for new cases.

"It's very common for agencies to charge fees of up to HK$21,000, which is much more than the maximum amount of 10 per cent of the worker's first month's wages that Hong Kong agencies are allowed to charge. That's a lot of money for workers," said Holly Allan, manager of Helpers for Domestic Helpers.