Judge criticises Hong Kong’s human trafficking regime after officials ignored forced labour victim
A 32-year-old Pakistani man spent three years in the city working an unrelenting schedule, without pay, before he was sent home to Pakistan
A High Court judge on Friday weighed in on the city’s efforts to combat human trafficking while ruling in favour of a Pakistani forced labour victim who was given the cold-shoulder by local authorities.
Handing down his decision, Justice Kevin Zervos said while Hong Kong had laws that prohibit certain acts under the umbrella of human trafficking – from prostitution to assault – it did not have legislation specifically targeting human trafficking itself.
“As a report card, it (Hong Kong law) seems to suffer by what it does not say, compared to what it does actually say,” Zervos said on Friday.
“If this case is an example of the effectiveness of Hong Kong’s regime in tackling human trafficking and forced labour, then it has failed to achieve even the most basic objectives.”
He was ruling on the case filed by 32-year-old Pakistani man, who was named Zn in court for legal reasons. Zn sued the Immigration Department, Hong Kong Police Force and the Labour Department for ignoring his complaints that he was a human trafficking victim.