Stop allowing employment agencies to exploit Indonesian helpers
Mabel Au calls for stricter enforcement of the law to root out employment agencies - both in Hong Kong and Indonesia - that are exploiting migrant domestic workers for profit
As troubling as the tales of abuse of migrant domestic workers are, it is rare for them to hit the headlines. And when they do - like the horrific abuse of Kartika Puspitasari, who was beaten, slashed, tied up and left to starve by her Hong Kong employers - there is shared outrage at such deplorable treatment.
We are reassured by the fact that Catherine Au Yuk-shan and her husband Tai Chi-wai were convicted and sent to jail for the abuse they inflicted. It shows the system works and such cases are the exception. Or does it?
The uncomfortable truth - laid bare in Amnesty International's latest report, "Exploited for Profit, Failed by Governments" - is one of widespread deception and exploitation. Indonesian women who seek legal work as a domestic worker here too often end up enduring conditions found in trafficking and forced labour. Systemic failings foster widespread abuse.
The report details how unscrupulous employment agencies in Hong Kong and Indonesia have constructed a complex and opaque system to circumvent national laws.
The agencies' aim is simple: to extort as much money from migrant domestic workers as possible via excessive and illegal fees. This is done without fear of reprisal, as both governments appear unwilling to take effective action against them.
From the outset, women are lied to by brokers and recruitment agents in Indonesia about how much they will earn and the high agency fees. By the time they find out the truth, they have mysteriously acquired a debt equivalent to thousands of Hong Kong dollars that prevents the majority from pulling out.