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Maids in Hong Kong call for end to 'discriminatory' mandatory vaccination, testing

An Asian regional advocacy group speaks up against what it believes is an effort to single out migrant workers as vectors of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, in the form of mandatory vaccination and testing as a requirement for extending work contracts.

Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, May 7, 2021

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Maids in Hong Kong call for end to 'discriminatory' mandatory vaccination, testing Indonesian migrant workers, most of whom work as domestic helpers in Hong Kong, form a long queue to cast their votes in the 2014 elections. (Setkab.go.id/-)

Indonesian migrant workers have been among those in Hong Kong who are calling for the full revocation of a mandatory vaccine policy that advocacy groups have lambasted for what they deem discrimination.

Hong Kong authorities have mandated that all 370,000 foreign domestic workers in the city get tested before May 9 and get vaccinated against COVID-19 before renewing their employment contracts, Reuters reported.

The decision was applied shortly after a Filipino domestic worker was found to have contracted a more contagious variant of the virus in the previous week.

Following backlash from workers groups, however, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that the policy had been suspended and would be further reviewed by her administration. The government was still planning to complete the mandatory testing on all domestic workers by May 9, she was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Read also: Face mask shortage: Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong seek help from home

The Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body (AMCB), a regional domestic workers’ advocacy group that also acts on behalf of workers from Indonesia, has called for "the scrapping of any mandatory vaccine policy that singles out [migrant domestic workers]". Indonesians account for almost half of all foreign domestic workers in the city.

"We are workers, we are not virus carriers. We will not be silenced in the face of being blamed for the spread of COVID-19 and targeted for discrimination and stigmatization," the group said in a statement obtained on Thursday.

The group also called for the revocation of the mandatory testing policy, which it claimed put domestic workers' health at greater risk amid the possible exposure to the virus while standing in long lines for the tests during their scant rest days.

And while the Hong Kong government has insisted that the policy also applies to people in high-risk industries, including homecare staff, the group dismissed any comparison.

"We reside in our employers' homes [and] care for our employers' families, while [employees in] other industries interact with multiple people, patients, visitors and co-workers. The government should stop using unfair comparisons to justify implementing unfair and unjust policies that target [migrant domestic workers]," the AMCB said.

The Indonesian Migrant Workers Network (JBMI) said that, while migrant workers did not mind getting the jab or the test, it remained a question why the policy was only applicable to them when COVID-19 cases had also emerged from gyms, restaurants and other public places in Hong Kong.

Such discrimination had only increased the mental, physical and financial toll on domestic migrant workers, who had been prone to overworking, improper accommodation and poor wages even long before the pandemic, the group said in a statement The Jakarta Post received on Friday.

This had been happening amid an absence of regulations on the issues in question, the group said, adding that domestic migrant workers also faced excessive placement charges from agents and the retention of essential documents by their employers.

"We deeply regret the passive, ‘silent’ stance of the Indonesian Consulate General in Hong Kong when the Hong Kong government issued a regulation that made Indonesian nationals working as domestic workers prone to security, safety and discrimination risks," the JBMI said.

Hernawan Bagaskoro Abid from the consulate general said his office had been communicating intensively with Hong Kong authorities and received clarification that the mandatory testing was not only for migrant domestic workers but also those with high-risk jobs.

He added that in contrast, mandatory vaccination was still just a plan.

"We've told Hong Kong that the KJRI should have been consulted first. Chief Executive [Carrie Lam] has requested that the plan be reviewed and related consulates asked for their opinions," he told the Post on Sunday.

 

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comments from the JBMI and the consulate general.

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