Carrie Lam urged to end ‘institutional slavery’ in Hong Kong by acting on promise of support for city’s foreign domestic workers
Asian Migrants Coordinating Body welcomes inclusion of subject in chief executive’s policy address, and urges immediate action on wages and living conditions
A rights activist has called on Hong Kong’s leader to free foreign domestic workers from “institutional slavery”, while bringing an end to “hypocritical pronouncements” of concern from the city’s politicians.
The Hong Kong families who pay their domestic helpers the most
In her speech, Lam vowed to enhance the government’s support for the 380,000 domestic workers in the city, including when it came to labour rights, and praised them for helping “unleash the potential of the local labour force”.
Villanueva urged Lam to act on her words sooner rather than later, and said he hoped the inclusion of domestic workers in the policy address would not “end up as one of the many empty motherhood statements made by Hong Kong officials in the past”.
He called on Lam to address workers’ immediate concerns, including raising their minimum wage to HK$5,500 a month. The level was raised to HK$4,520 (US$578) per month from September 29, which workers groups have labelled a “slave wage increase”.
In her speech, Lam said the presence of domestic workers allowed Hong Kong’s residents to make a “significant contribution to Hong Kong’s development”.
“To maintain Hong Kong’s attractiveness as a place of work and meet local families’ increasing demand for domestic workers, the government will continue to enhance its support for domestic workers and protection of their labour rights, and step up enforcement and prosecution against unscrupulous employment agencies,” Lam said.
