Category Archives : Articles


EDITORIAL – Erwiana is Not An Isolated Case, It’s The Tip of the Iceberg

As featured in the South China Morning Post.

The former employer of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was convicted in the District Court on Tuesday of a multitude of violent crimes that left the Indonesian domestic helper a shell of her former self. The physical and psychological abuse she endured was horrific. She had little left in terms of her physical integrity and fought hard to hold onto her humanity.

Yet, since Erwiana’s case came to light barely a year ago, the Hong Kong government has taken little to no action to constructively address the inequities, discrimination and risks that foreign domestic helpers face.

The government continues to hold to the status quo position, arguing that the prevailing policies, legislation, administration and due diligence practices do not require any real change. Erwiana’s case exposed blatant shortcomings of the system, which regulates and supposedly protects foreign domestic helpers. And yet the government has been reluctant to take concrete steps to provide greater protection.

It is apparent that the government has treated Erwiana’s case as a one-off incident, a statistical outlier. It apparently continues to fail to recognise that Erwiana’s case is one of a multitude of cases of abuse of varying degrees suffered by foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Such abuses include non-payment or partial payment of wages, denial of statutory holidays, psychological abuse, intimidation, and acts of violence, including sexual violence.

An Amnesty International report published in late 2013 found that almost 60 per cent of all foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong were subjected to verbal abuse by their employers. Almost 20 per cent suffered violence at the hands of their employers and, in 2014, the Equal Opportunities Commission found that 6.5 per cent suffered sexual abuse.


OP-ED – Helpers Set Up Own Libraries As Gov’t Ignores HK’s Biggest Minorities

A South China Morning Post article last week reported Hong Kong people are falling out of love with city libraries. The rampant usage of smartphones was cited for the decline in book rentals. Library officials lamented the decreasing figures and commentators criticised the cities reading culture, which has been ‘in decline for years’. On the other hand, domestic workers have been busy setting up unofficial mobile libraries across the city because the Hong Kong libraries don’t cater for their needs.

libraries ignore minorities

Since 2009, the department has expanded its library collection from 12.5 million books and multimedia materials to 13.1 million. Yet, the number of books rented fell 6.2 million over the past five years, from 61.7 million in 2009 to 55.5 million last year. A spokesperson for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which manages the public libraries told the SCMP that “professional judgement was exercised in the acquisition of books to meet the different needs of various groups, including ethnic minorities”, and the collections remained “highly popular among readers”.


ARTICLE – As Erwiana Visits HK, How Do We Prevent Torture Occurring Again?

vph3qyV.png (209×266)Holly Carlos Allan is the manager of Helpers for Domestic Helpers, an excellent non-profit that provides free advice and assistance to domestic workers. As Erwiana is due to visit the city next week for a medical report, Holly discusses the recent abuse cases and what needs to change.

I don’t know about you, but I find the comment of police commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung that the annual average of 30-40 cases of wounding and serious assault of domestic workers means they are “very rare”, quite chilling. One case is one too many, forty should be alarming.

The two recent cases of seriously abused Indonesian domestic workers, Kartika Puspitasari and Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, raised questions as to how many similar instances have gone unreported. While I believe that most employers in Hong Kong are reasonable, as someone who works for an organisation that provides advice and assistance to domestic workers, I can tell you that the tragedy of Kartika and Erwiana are by no means isolated cases.

One should also ask whether Erwiana would have had a chance at seeking justice if her case was not reported by the media and did not receive International coverage. Numerous such cases dealt with by my organisation have languished in obscurity as the victims decided to abandon their complaints due to police indifference and because they could not afford to stay in Hong Kong without a job as their cases drag on.Holly Carlos Allan is the manager of Helpers for Domestic Helpers, an excellent non-profit that provides free advice and assistance to domestic workers. As Erwiana is due to visit the city next week for a medical report, Holly discusses the recent abuse cases and what needs to change.

I don’t know about you, but I find the comment of police commissioner Andy Tsang Wai-hung that the annual average of 30-40 cases of wounding and serious assault of domestic workers means they are “very rare”, quite chilling. One case is one too many, forty should be alarming.

The two recent cases of seriously abused Indonesian domestic workers, Kartika Puspitasari and Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, raised questions as to how many similar instances have gone unreported. While I believe that most employers in Hong Kong are reasonable, as someone who works for an organisation that provides advice and assistance to domestic workers, I can tell you that the tragedy of Kartika and Erwiana are by no means isolated cases.

One should also ask whether Erwiana would have had a chance at seeking justice if her case was not reported by the media and did not receive International coverage. Numerous such cases dealt with by my organisation have languished in obscurity as the victims decided to abandon their complaints due to police indifference and because they could not afford to stay in Hong Kong without a job as their cases drag on.


ARTICLE – Yet ANOTHER Case of Torture Emerges as Gov’t Says Rules Won’t Change

Anis Andriani, a 28-year-old helper from Ponorogo, Indonesia, was hospitalised in Pokfulam this week after her employer allegedly chopped off her finger with a knife. Anis says she had previously attempted to alert neighbours to her ill-treatment. When she was unable to understand her employer, Anis says she severed the tip of her finder with a knife on a chopping board.

It is the latest in a spate of torture incidents. Yet as Anis was being treated in hospital, the government promised that the two-week rule and live-in rule – which enable such mistreatment – are here to stay.


ARTICLES – SCMP Op-ed on the “Job Hopping” Myth from Our Legal Advisor

Our legal advisor, Rob Connelly has an Op-ed in the South China Morning Post today on the myth of ‘job-hopping’. His unedited commentary is below…

What would you think of a law which penalised you for changing your employer? What if you had paid the majority of the costs of your recruitment to an employment agency and were now being told that to resign would be unfair to your employer? Why do we countenance such discriminatory administrative policies towards migrant domestic workers, or Foreign Domestic Helpers, as they are known to the Hong Kong Government?

In response to SCMP, 21.2.14

Once again, the job-hopping myth has been trotted out to justify the discriminatory and punitive immigration policies towards migrant domestic workers (“Job-hopping’ helpers exploit rules for cash” – 20 February 2014). It’s time to look at the facts.

Contrary to the statement of the Security Bureau in the article, workers who terminate their employment contracts prematurely are not entitled to severance pay under the Employment Ordinance. They will only receive any outstanding salary for the period worked and return passage to their home country, as a ticket or cash in lieu, at the discretion of the employer. A worker who does not have grounds to terminate the contract summarily has to give one month’s notice or pay one month’s wages in lieu of notice to the employer.

After terminating her contract, the worker has 14 days to find a new employer, at the end of which she has to leave Hong Kong, whether or not a new employer has been found. She will suffer loss of income for four to six weeks while waiting for the new visa, or even longer if she did not find an employer and has to register again with an agency in her home country.


BLOG – 2nd Helper This Month Dies at Work in Hong Kong 2

A foreign domestic helper, aged 28, died today after falling from a residential building in Wong Tai Sin. Police are yet to release details, but it is claimed that the woman fell onto a concrete canopy whilst cleaning windows.

External work on HK's high rises

External work on HK’s high rises is usually performed by well-protected scaffolders, image via ‘amdupp’ on Flickr

This is Hong Kong’s second such death in 3 weeks. Earlier this month, Melaine Nobleza, a 45 year old Filipino helper, fell from a 12-story building. Melaine had worked in Hong Kong for almost 25 years and was also cleaning windows when she fell. Authorities took almost a week to relay the news to her family. The incident received no media coverage in Hong Kong’s English press.


PRESS RELEASE: Abuse is “Rare”? Our response to the Indonesian Consul

5,000 protesters rallied on Sunday against abuse.

5,000 protesters rallied on Sunday against abuse.

In a statement to the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, Indonesian consul-general Chalief Akbar Tjandraningrat claimed that the problem of abuse amongst domestic migrant workers is ‘very rare in Hong Kong’. It is disheartening to know that the top Indonesian official in Hong Kong is claiming that Hong Kong is a safe place for migrant workers, despite repeated evidence to the contrary.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; International Labour Organization; Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch and others have all cited areas for improvement in Hong Kong’s policies regarding domestic workers.

In response to the case of Erwiana, CY Leung and Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung have both pledged to uphold the law of Hong Kong, but have yet to lay out how specifically that will be done with regards to domestic workers. This mistreatment is something that happens behind closed doors and is difficult to prove; thus the only way to adequately address it is to take preventative measures. Sunday’s rally, organized in under a week to call for justice, was attended by thousands and indicates the growing sentiment amongst migrant workers and Hong Kongers alike that retroactive measures for abuse victims is not sufficient.


ARTICLE – Misguided Hong Kong Laws Failing to Halt Abuse of Helpers

South China Morning Post - Helper abuse story

Click to visit SCMP

Meredith McBride has a comment piece in the South China Morning Post today on behalf of the HK Helpers Campaign…

Stomach-churning images of 23-year-old Erwiana Sulistyaningsih surfaced on social media this week, once again shaming Hong Kong for condoning physical violence against migrant domestic workers. Erwiana was allegedly beaten, burned and tortured to such an extent that she was left in a critical condition.

What will it take for the Hong Kong government to finally act on such horrendous abuse? Clearly, the current system is not working. Only a few months ago, Kartika Puspitasari revealed in court how her employers forced her to wear a diaper and tied her to a chair for days while they left on vacation.

If employers are able to abuse their helpers for months and years on end without ramifications, the laws and policies that allow for this abuse must be changed.

Because of discriminatory legislation, migrant workers have limited options and rights. After leaving an employer for any reason, a domestic helper has 14 days to find alternative employment. To overstay this two-week provision is illegal. However, employment visas take four to six weeks to process. A one-day visa extension costs HK$160. So most have to leave Hong Kong then return once an employment visa has been processed.

Even if abuse has been established, justice is evasive. Cases within the labour tribunal take a minimum of two months to process; abuse cases often take years. This makes it virtually impossible for an abused worker to pursue action against her employer or agency.

A 2012 Mission for Migrant Workers study found that 18 per cent of domestic helpers suffered physical abuse at the hands of their employers. Currently, some 290,000 domestic migrant workers reside in Hong Kong. If this statistic rings true, it is possible that 52,000 women are currently being mistreated by their employer


BLOG – Another Domestic Maid Tortured by HK Employer Flees; Hospitalised.

(N.B. Graphic images below) Erwiana Sulistayaniangsih, a foreign domestic helper from Indonesia, fled Hong Kong last week after being beaten by her employer in Tsueng Kwan O for months on end.

Qf0mAnul.jpg (640×423)

Erwiana safe in Java

Indonesian NGO ‘Asosiasi Tenaga Kerja Indonesia di Hong Kong‘ (ATKI) said that Erwiana came to the city last May and was beaten daily for 8 months with sticks and hangers for performing poorly at her job. She was released when she was no longer able to walk and was allowed to return home with HK$100. Throughout her ordeal, she was warned not to speak to any other Indonesians.

The name and address of her former employer have been published online as the photos went viral amongst HK’s Indonesian community.