Despite the tremendous support these foreign workers has given us, Hong Kong is lacking behind in protecting their rights.
Two Hong Kong NGOs, Mission for Migrant Workers and Justice Centre, have interviewed over 3,000 and 1,000 foreign domestic workers and 2012 and 2016 respectively.
17% of the respondents had displayed all the indicators required to be counted in forced labour. That’s 1 in 6 MDWs in Hong Kong.
Apart from those, 66.3% displayed strong signs of exploitation, but do not trigger enough indicators to be counted as being in forced labour.
Moreover, 6% of respondents reported they had suffered from sexual abuse by their current or former employer.
Although the law requires employers to provide the domestic workers with “suitable accommodation and with reasonable privacy”, 39% of respondents said they did not have their own bedroom, and over 35% shared a room with a child or an elderly individual.