Forced labour must be criminalised in Hong Kong to protect thousands of ‘invisible’ victims, Raza Husain QC tells High Court

City’s first ever judicial review on human trafficking hears that perpetrators will remain free to exploit if offence not introduced

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Zn cannot be named to protect his identity. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:33am, 10 May 2018Updated: 12:24pm, 10 May 2018

A barrister told Hong Kong’s High Court on Wednesday that thousands of victims of human trafficking, including the Pakistani man at the centre of his case, had gone unnoticed and even been prosecuted in the city, which does not treat forced labour as a crime.

Raza Husain QC, who has called for the criminalisation of the offence, noted that thousands of victims had been punished, mostly for immigration offences, when instead the city should have offered them protection.

“There are many people who remain invisible and not protected, and the perpetrators remain free,” he said.

The two-day appeal hearing related to Hong Kong’s first ever judicial review on human trafficking ended at the High Court on Wednesday.

It came after a Pakistani man won a legal battle against local authorities in December 2016. Zn, as he was referred to in court proceedings, worked in Hong Kong between 2007 and 2010 without being paid. He was beaten and threatened, and worked extremely long hours.

The High Court heard Hong Kong’s first ever judicial review on human trafficking. Photo: Fung Chang

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