First trial looms for alleged racial discrimination under new law
The first court case over an alleged breach of the new Race Discrimination Ordinance may go to trial soon, the Equal Opportunities Commission said yesterday.
Some 65 complaints involving racial discrimination have been handled by the commission since the law came into force in July last year.
The complainant in one case has applied for legal assistance, meaning the case was not settled through conciliation, a commission spokeswoman said. But the commission is still reviewing the application and has not yet granted assistance.
Commission chairman Lam Woon-kwong said nearly 70 per cent of the cases did not relate to employment, but rather services received in daily life.
'A common complaint that we receive concerns ethnic minorities finding it difficult to rent premises,' he said. He said it is 'clearly an infringement of the ordinance' when landlords refuse to rent flats to ethnic minority people.
Lam said the commission had sent copies of the regulations to real estate agents, asking them to remind landlords that they cannot refuse to rent out flats to ethnic minorities.
Overall, a total of 1,114 complaints under different ordinances were handled by the commission in the year up until March 31 - up 2.7 per cent year on year. People in 69 cases had applied for legal assistance - up 41 per cent - and the commission granted assistance in 30 cases. Some 613 cases were handled under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, up 4 per cent. A total of 433 cases were handled under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, down 5 per cent. Most of the cases related to pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment in workplaces.
Lam said 80 per cent of complaints involved employment problems. 'This shows that employers lack awareness over providing employees with a working environment free of discrimination.'
The commission handled 15 court proceedings under ordinances in the last fiscal year, secured HK$800,000 compensation for complainants through legal help, and HK$11 million compensation in conciliation.
