‘Little progress since Erwiana’: activists slam lack of government action over poor sleeping conditions for domestic workers

Study by Mission for Migrant Workers suggests three in 10 helpers forced to sleep in store rooms, kitchens and even toilets

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As an experiment, reporter Rachel Blundy spends a night in cramped quarters like many domestic helpers do. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:00am, 3 Jun 2017Updated: 5:42pm, 3 Jun 2017

Thousands of Hong Kong’s foreign domestic workers continue to sleep in appalling conditions leaving them vulnerable to abuse, according to activists, who lament that the government continues to turn a “blind eye” to the problem.

In early 2014, the torture of Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih by her employer Law Wan-tung was exposed. The helper was constantly beaten and lived in appalling conditions, including being forced to sleep on the floor.

More than three years on, the latest study by concern group Mission for Migrant Workers suggests that up to three in every 10 of Hong Kong’s 330,000 foreign domestic workers are made to sleep in storerooms, balconies, kitchens and even toilets, while the rest are offered only shared bedrooms, often with their employers’ children.

Watch: What is it like to sleep like some of the foreign domestic workers

This week, a Post reporter spent a night in a similarly cramped spaced in an attempt to understand and highlight the poor living conditions domestic helpers face after a hard day’s work.

Indonesian domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih (centre) was abused and beaten by her employer. Photo: Sam Tsang