Hong Kong domestic helpers march to demand stronger legal protection against abuse

Workers and local supporters say recently introduced voluntary code of practice does not act as a deterrent to unscrupulous employment agencies

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The march was to coincide with UN International Migrants Day. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 7:00am, 18 Dec 2017Updated: 7:13am, 18 Dec 2017

About 50 people marched in Hong Kong on Sunday, submitting petitions to several foreign consulates to protest against employment agencies overcharging migrant workers and demand better legal protection from abuse and exploitation.

The protesters, mostly foreign domestic helpers and local supporters, demanded the government regulate agencies to stamp out illegal and exploitative practices. They said the voluntary Code of Practice for Employment Agencies (COP), introduced in January, does not offer enough protection to migrant workers’ rights.

“The problem is that the COP is not law. We need the Hong Kong government to make it law,” Federation of Asian Domestic Workers’ Unions chairwoman Phobsuk Gasing said.

The protest – to coincide with UN International Migrants Day, on Monday – began in Tsim Sha Tsui, near the Nepalese consulate. The marchers went via the Star Ferry to Edinburgh Place in Central. From there, they marched to the consulates of Thailand, the Philippines and India, before ending their march at government headquarters in Admiralty.

They handed letters of protest and a list of demands to representatives from all four consulates and the government. The city’s 360,000 domestic helpers mainly come from the four countries whose consulates the protesters visited, plus Indonesia.

Agencies that break the COP can get warning letters, be fined, or lose their licence. But critics have derided the code as a “toothless tiger”, saying unscrupulous practices have continued since it came in.