Hong Kong's 'ludicrous' and 'inept' human-trafficking laws are punishing victims of the crime rather than those who bring them to the city, a leading human rights solicitor says.
Mike Vidler, managing proprietor of Vidler & Co Solicitors, pointed to the recent case of one of his clients, a Filipino woman who was jailed for four and a half months for immigration offences while the people who brought her to the city went unpunished.
Vidler's comments echo concerns raised last month in a report by the United States Department of State, which said Hong Kong 'does not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking' and 'authorities have made no discernible progress in law enforcement efforts against sex trafficking or forced labour [labour trafficking]'.
In the case Vidler cited, the woman, who had received no education and had never left her homeland before, thought she was coming to Hong Kong for a week, but spent 18 months working and living at her employer's home.
She only went to the Philippine consulate to seek help when her boss stopped paying her.
'Despite the fact this woman co-operated with authorities and gave evidence against her employers for human-trafficking offences, her employers were not prosecuted, but she was, for immigration offences,' Vidler said. 'It was a ludicrous decision. It boiled down to the magistrate not believing her story. It was inept. Here we focus on prostitution and not labour issues. Nothing in our legislation protects labour issues at all.'