Category Archives : News


NEWS: Hong Kong Delegation Heads to Manila to Discuss Domestic Workers

The Domestic Workers Roundtable (DWRT), a conglomeration of domestic workers NGOs and interest groups formed in 2014 (including Hong Kong Helpers Campaign), has announced a delegation to Manila to meet with counterparts to discuss illegal agency fees, loan sharks, and access to justice for abused domestic workers in Hong Kong.

Photo: DWRT.

The delegation, led by Legislative Councilwoman Emily Lau of the Democratic Party will arrive in Manila on August 2 for four days of talks. Supporting her are Allan Bell, Chairperson of the DWRT and David Bishop, co-founder of the Fair Employment Agency, an organisation for migrant workers in Hong Kong that charges them no fees for job placement.


NEWS – Regina Ip Deletes Column Condemning Sexual Behaviour of Filipino Helpers

Via HongWrong.com. Translations courtesy of Ellie Ng.

Pro-Beijing politician Regina Ip has removed a controversial column from her blog and Facebook related to the sex lives of domestic workers. In the piece, also printed in Ming Pao, she decried the international media for “exaggerating” the Erwiana abuse case and made reference to the recent suicide of a teenager.

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HELPERS – Helper Treated “Like a Slave” by Hong Kong Family Awarded HK$339,412 by Canadian Court

A Filipino domestic worker has been awarded HK$339,412 (CAD55,000) at a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal which said she was held as a “virtual slave” by her Hong Kong employers.

The family brought the mother of two, known as “PN” to Canada with them in 2013. The husband was found to have been sexually assaulting her and the wife humiliated and abused her in a hotel suite they stayed in while house-hunting. The children also made fun of her.

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NEWS – A Thousand March Demanding Justice for Elis 2

Dressed in black and wearing headbands, up to 300 domestic workers protested outside the Indonesian Consulate in Causeway Bay demanding Justice for Elis. Elis, a domestic worker from Indonesia, died tragically after a 60kg concrete block fell on her at the Sunlight Agency hostel where she was staying.

They demanded changes to the Indonesian Government rules that require all domestic workers to be employed through agencies. This, they say allows for exploitation of domestic workers as the agencies are often unregulated, or regulations are unenforced.


NEWS – Update: Justice for Elis Collection Surpasses HK$20,000

The JusticeForElis.com campaign has so far raised over HK$20,000 for Elis Kurniasih’s family.

Elis, a domestic worker, died after being crushed by a concrete blog at her agency accommodation. Mission for Migrant Workers reported that her family was under pressure from the agency and Indonesian authorities to ‘settle’ rather than pursue legal action against those responsible.

The final amount will be sent to Elis’s mother in Indonesia next Tuesday. If a transfer proves difficult, a member of the Mission for Migrant Workers team who is due to visit the family soon will pass on the donations in person.

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Elis’s body will be repatriated next Thursday. Elis was divorced and leaves behind two children and elderly parents, whom she was supporting in Hong Kong.

Mission for Migrant Workers & HK Helpers Campaign would like to extend a big thank you to all who kindly donated.

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A rally will be held this Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm, beginning at the Indonesian Consulate in Causeway Bay.

The dress code is all black in honour of Elis.

Download a placard:

Justice for Elis Download a placard Download PDF placards


NEWS – Domestic Workers Call For Boycott of Sunlight Employment Agency After Elis’s Death

Following the death of Elis Kurniasih, 33-year-old mother of two from Indonesia, activists called for immediate action outside of the Sunlight Employment Agency in North Point midday Tuesday.

Sunlight Employment Agency

Protesters gather outside Sunlight Employment Agency

“This is a murder,” said Eni Lestari, who heads the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body. She told the crowd that Elis had been charged two months of her salary to change employers in Hong Kong, and that her death was not a normal accident, but the result of human neglect. Elis was residing at the agency because her employer had decided not to hire her for another two months.


NEWS – Helper Crushed by Concrete Block At Agency 1

A 33-year-old Indonesian domestic worker is in a critical condition after being crushed by a falling 60kg concrete block.

Elis Kurniasih, employed by Sun Light Employment Agency, was in a boarding house provided by the agency. A concrete base of an air conditioner fell on her as she prayed at 5am in the morning. The incident resulted in massive bleeding a broken spine, according to a Mission For Migrant Workers spokesperson, who added that conditions at the boarding house were said to be “terrible”. 


NEWS – The NGO Training Hong Kong’s Helpers in Financial Literacy 2

For most people, work ends after they leave the office, cram into the MTR to head home or to meet friends or family for dinner. For Hong Kong’s domestic workers, reprieve from work happens only on Sundays, when the women have 24 hours each week to be themselves. For most women, this involves relaxing, running errands, or chatting with friends in the park. Most people would not choose to spend four hours of their sole day off in a one-room office in Sheung Wan learning how to budget and plan their finances.

Yet that is exactly what dozens of women who attend Enrich’s financial literacy programs do. This particular Sunday, the women are attending a basic financial literacy course, which promises to teach the women the necessities of saving and making smart decisions with their money.

Domestic workers meet at Enrich on Sunday

Domestic workers meet at Enrich on Sunday

Enrich offers several programs, including business development, assertive communication, and asset building – to huge success. Of their participants, 93% express greater confidence in managing debt and 100% say they are in a better financial position than before the course.

Ping Bevan, a bubbly woman from Bangkok, points the women towards dozens of cards neatly laid out on a desk that describe goals such as “I’d like to be able to support my family/parents” and “I’d like to stop worrying about money every day.”


NEWS: A Break Through? Judge in Erwiana Case Calls for Review of Live-in Rule 2

Friday morning Law Wan-tung, the 44-year-old housewife who was found guilty of abusing Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and Tutik Lestari Ningsih, was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Speaking in the Wan Chai District Court early Friday, the Honourable Judge Amanda Woodcock made ground-breaking statements slamming the live-in rule and collection of illegal agency fees as having facilitated Erwiana’s abuse.

Judge Amanda Woodcock on the 'live in rule'

Judge Amanda Woodcock on the ‘live in rule’

“In my view, such conduct could be prevented if domestic workers were not forced to live in their employers’ homes,” Judge Woodcock said. “The choice would make all the difference.”