Statistics on MFMW Counseling, Shelter, and other Emergency Services for 2013
April 2014
This report summarizes the work of the MFMW in providing direct welfare and emergency services to distressed Asian domestic workers in 2013. It also provides some insights into the current conditions and needs of the foreign domestic helper population in Hong Kong. The data presented in this report form only part of the total number of migrants that were assisted and empowered by the MFMW last year. They were derived from those who benefitted from our counseling and case work, shelter provision and other emergency services which form parts of our Labor and Employment Assistance (LEAP), Pastoral and Social Welfare (PCSW) and Women Initiatives towards Empowerment (WITE) programs. If you wish to see the total work and reach of the MFMW, including our education and capacity-building efforts under our Crisis Intervention and Prevention through Migrant Empowerment (CIPME) strategy, please refer to the MFMW narrative report of 2013. Acknowledgement goes to our interns Ms. Sara Lowery of the Young Adult Service Corps of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, Ms. Beth McRill of the Young Adult Mission Service of the United Methodist Church of the USA, and Ms. Hsiang Ying Wu for collating all the information since last year and presenting them for public use. Please acknowledge Mission For Migrant Workers (MFMW) of the St. John’s Cathedral if you quote any data found in this report.
Serving Migrant Workers in Hong Kong since 1981
The Mission For Migrant Workers (MFMW) of St. John’s Cathedral is a registered charitable organization dedicated to delivering responsive services to Asian migrants in critical need and developing self-sustaining capacities of migrant’s organizations for mutual aid and cooperation. The Mission, an outreach program of the St. John’s Cathedral, was founded in 1981 in response to increasing cases of maltreatment and unfair labour practices affecting migrant workers. This project, initiated by the Resource Center for Philippine Concerns, Holy Carpenter Church and Community Centre, and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, has grown dramatically in this time. MFMW was adopted by St. John’s Cathedral as an outreach program to Filipinos in Hong Kong, and it is now a comprehensive service organization that serves migrants from any nationality. The MFMW provides various direct welfare services, including paralegal counseling, legal assistance, and temporary shelter, to aid migrant workers in distress. In addition, it promotes educational and organizational work among migrant groups to provide information about their legal rights, creates and distributes publications geared towards issues affecting migrant workers (including legal, educational, and social publications), and coordinates efforts to raise awareness of issues affecting migrant workers in Hong Kong. For 33 years now, the Mission For Migrant Workers has provided assistance for a variety of types of cases, including labour, agency-related problems, immigration, police, and employment issues. As the data in this report show, migrant workers in Hong Kong still face incredible difficulties in employment and various systematic abuses within the labour export system. 1
An Average Foreign Domestic Worker
! The life of a migrant worker is not easy. When she arrives in Hong Kong, she is wanting to provide for her family back home and to make an honest living. She can only hope to have an employer who treats her well, pays her wages on time, and agrees to pay her entitlements upon the end of her contract. She is at the mercy of her employer; her living arrangements, time off, food and working hours are all out of her control. ! She is unlikely to have any privacy within the employer’s house. 43.5% of workers do not have their own room, and many are forced to sleep places such as the washroom, the living room, or the kitchen. She must also learn to navigate a new city, a new legal system, and a new culture, often without the help of friends or the ability to communicate in her native language. She has likely left a family behind, and she may not speak to her children for weeks on end. ! On average, she will work 15.8 hours/day, and because she lives in the house of her employer she is always “on call.” Because she is isolated and dependent on her employer, she may be more reluctant to report violations out of fear. She may also face discrimination by governments, racism in her daily interactions, debt bondage from her employment agency, and extreme isolation. ! This is where we come in – we help migrants empower themselves to fight against these injustices and to provide a place of guidance in the process. We work with local consulates, the labour department, and other governmental organizations to help clients during their time of distress. 2
Whom Did We Serve? In 2013, the MFMW served a total of 7,653 Asian migrants. The services they received range from inquiries and counseling for employment and psycho-social issues to actual case work for legal claims, immigration issues, and criminal offenses. Our clients all have different family, social, and national backgrounds, and each case is unique in its own right. What our clients have in common are their needs for equality, fair treatment, and a means to provide for their families. We are committed to helping migrant workers in crisis, and ensuring that every migrant who comes into our office is treated with dignity and respect during her case. Counseling services and inquiry handling are provided through various channels. Our main counseling center at St. John’s Cathedral and our extension office in the Kowloon Union Church accept walk-in clients and handle case work. In our walk-in centre at St. John’s alone, we have logged 6,003 personal visits from new and old clients in 2013. That is an average of 20 walk-in clients attended to per day. That number is in addition to the 2,267 migrants we have counseled by phone over 3
the past year. Phone counseling is normally done at the offices during regular office hours. In emergency cases, especially outside official hours, phone inquiries are accepted through our emergency hotlines at the Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge and through the mobile phones of our case workers. Throughout the past few years, we have increased our mobile counseling services conducted at local areas of concentration of s p e c i fi c migrant nationalities. Through partnership with our Migrant Mutual Care and Support Networks among migrant associations, we have been able to expand our capacity for these frontline services. In the past year alone, we have counseled 1,802 through mobile counseling.
FAST FACTS: 7,653!Migrants Served in 2013 2,169!New Cases in 2013 2,267!Phone Inquiries and ! Counseling 675 ! Inquiries made at the ! Mission Office 1,802!Inquiries at Mobile ! Counseling Centres 33 ! Hospital visits 707 ! Clients admitted to ! shelters (Bethune House ! and others) 98.8% Women 1.2% !Men 77%! Filipinos 19% ! Indonesians 4% ! Other Asian nationality
Contact Us: Tel: 2522-8264 Fax: 2526-2894 Mission@Migrants.net Facebook.com/MFMWHK 4
What Issues Affect Migrant Workers? ! Out of the more than 7,000 clients in 2013, we were able to gather statistical data from 2,169 clients. This survey represented almost 30% of the total migrants we served last year. In addition to identifying the reasons for seeking our help, we also polled them on their general working conditions. In the chart, you can see the type of cases for which these migrants sought our help:
2% 3% 2% 0%
15%
52% 25%
personal loan other loan/agency
immigration labour
5
police agency fees
A Story of Many: ! “Thorny Rose,” a Mission client from late 2012, was not given any food during her first ten days of employment. Her employer’s mother-in-law counted everything in the fridge and the garbage bin every night, and afterwards she was given only spoiled leftovers. She was also made by her employer to do illegal work in the mother-in-law’s house, which put her at risk with the government. Because she owed the recruitment agency PhP150,000.00 (US$3366; HK$26,129) in illegal placement fees, she was fearful of reporting her circumstances to the police or her agency. She was also worried that reporting her circumstances would mean not being able to provide for her sick child back home in the Philippines. ! With the help of the Mission, TR was able to file a claim with the Labour Department against the employer who treated her like a slave. She resided at the Bethune House for eleven months during her ordeal, and credits the Bethune House with helping her to learn about empowering herself. “It is not just about the money that I won from my case. It’s about getting back to my self-esteem as well as earning respect from my fellow residents in the shelter. Truly we have one family seeking justice for our trampled rights.” Type of Case
Percentage
Forced Lending and Agency Fees
52%
Agency Fees
25%
Labour
15%
Other
3%
Police
2%
Immigration
2%
Personal Loan
<1%
Dramatic Rise in Cases Involving Debt Bondage As a Result of Recruitment Agency Malpractices
awareness of the laws and policies related to recruitment agencies. This is due to various migrant associations sharing information about these policies, as well as our regular Know Your Rights seminars for Newly Arrived Migrants.
In 2013, there was a marked increase in reports and complaints involving recruitment agency practices particularly illegal collection and/or overcharging of fees. In just the first half of 2013, we reported a dramatic surge in inquiries and case filing related to such cases. For example, in June, after more than two months of steady increase of client intake (ranging between 50-60 every Sunday) we recorded over 200 clients queuing up at our walk-in center to seek help one Sunday alone.
Cases against recruitment agencies shot up to a total of 77% of cases handled, with 52% of these related with â&#x20AC;&#x153;personalâ&#x20AC;? loans. These loans are actually agency fees disguised as such to evade the Hong Kong cap on recruitment fees paid by foreign domestic workers. This illegal and deceptive practice traps migrants in debt bondage.
This steady increase of complaints correlates with a growing 7
Working Conditions Remain Unsatisfactory The survey revealed disturbing working conditions for foreign domestic workers. Hong Kong society has to ask itself whether these conditions, based on international labour standards and common human decency, constitute labor trafficking or worse, slavery.
As Reported in 2013 Survey Long Working Hours
86.60%
Illegal Recruitment
43.38%
No Private Room
43.47%
Work On Rest Day
39.28%
Insufficient Food
14.85%
Work on Statutory Holiday
14.71%
Documents Taken by Either Agency or Employer Ill Treatment
12.90% 10.74%
No Statutory Holiday
6.80%
Illegal Work
6.59%
Physical Assault
3.60%
No Rest Day
2.50% 8
Long Working Hours: 87% of clients report having long working hours, with an average of 15.8 hours/day. While some have as little as 12, others work up to 20. Living in their employerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home makes workers on call 24 hours a day. No Private Room: 43% of our clients polled did not have their own room.
Many
are made to share with children or elderly family members. Others are forced to sleep in unsuitable spaces such as utility closets, laundry rooms, kitchens, hallways, or washrooms. Insufficient Food: 15% of clients report having neither sufficient food in their employerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homes nor a food allowance, despite their contract stating they should be given 3 meals a day. These clients either went hungry or bought food using their salary. No Rest Days/Statutory Holidays: 2.5% of clients polled report not getting their full rest days or statutory holidays. According to the Employment Ordinance, domestic workers must be given one 24-hour rest period a week and statutory holidays free from work. However, many are expected to do work before or after returning from their day off, and they worked an average of 4.25 hours during their rest days and 3.87 for statutory holidays. Maltreatment: 11% of Mission clients report maltreatment from their employers. This includes shouting, harsh criticism, and emotional and physical abuses, which only serve to create a more stressful environment for the worker. 9
Confiscation of Documents: 13% of clients had their documents (passport, employment contract, or HKID card) confiscated by either their employment agency or their employer. This practice is illegal, and is used to control or to scare the worker. Assault/Harassment:
4%
of
clients report physical or sexual assault in their employer’s homes. This includes biting, hitting, burning, slapping, rape, harassment.
and
sexual
Illegal Work: 6.59% of respondents reported being told to do illegal work. When an employer asks her employee to do work (such as cleaning) outside of the home, such as for the employer’s mother, at an office, or in an apartment outside of
the
one
specified
in
the
employment contract, this is illegal in Hong Kong. However, domestic workers have few options to refuse these acts if they are requested by an employer out of fear of losing their
Stories from the Mission ! Joyce first arrived in Hong Kong on 4 July 2013. Her contract stipulated that she would be provided with a 60 ft² room; however, when she arrived, she found that she would be expected to sleep in the tiny laundry room. She was provided a folding metal bed and a dirty blanket. This space was shared with two dogs with skin conditions and the wet laundry hanging in the room. Because of the poor conditions, she developed skin rashes from the dogs and could not sleep at night. After four days, she terminated her contract without notice and sought help from the Mission. With our help, she was able to stay at Bethune House until the end of her settlement claims with the labour department.
jobs. If they are caught, all of the responsibility is on the worker, not the employer. It is a lose-lose situation for foreign domestic workers, and it contributes to a stressful environment for them. Illegal Recruitment 43.38%: Agency fees, misleading or incorrect promises by recruitment agencies, confiscation of travel or employment documents, trafficking, and harassment from recruitment agencies are just some of the issues faced by domestic workers. While these practices are illegal, they are still widespread. 10
Where does a migrant woman go when she is in distress?
Opening Celebration of one of the Bethune Shelters
Established in 1986 under the Mission For Migrant Workers, the Bethune House seeks to provide shelter, charitable assistance and psycho-social services to the needy migrant workers. Bethune House is a place where migrant workers can stay in the wake of an unexpected termination, while they are waiting for their cases with labour or the police, or if they need somewhere to turn from an abusive employer.
accommodated more than 600 clients, and that number grows larger every year. Without the generous contributions of our supporters, these women would be left with nowhere to turn in these times of crisis.
Cases of Bethune House Clients Nature of Case
The Bethune House operates two small flats located in the center of Hong Kong. Each flat has both sleeping quarters and common area for the residents and one room for the staff and a kitchen. There are bunk beds for 15 residents in each shelter, but most of the time the flats are occupied by more than that number. The residents themselves share the household chores (marketing, cooking, cleaning and washing). A daily schedule and a set of house policies are provided to systematize the operation of the shelter. Our residents learn is the spirit of collective work and become a temporary family while their cases are ongoing. Your support of the Bethune House is invaluable. In 2013, our shelters
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Incidences
Illegal Recruitment/Agency Fees/ Confiscation of Passports and/or HKID
249
Labour Case
235
Temporary Shelter
182
Accused of Theft
33
Physical Assault
26
Immigration Case
16
Sexual Assault/Harassment/Rape
26
Health Problems
4
Legal Aid
4
Accused of Child Abuse
2
MFMW Ltd. Board of Directors REVD. DWIGHT QUIJANO DELA TORRE Acting Chairperson and ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL – Chaplain for Filipino Christians in Hong Kong EDWINA ANTONIO Recording Secretary and BETHUNE HOUSE MIGRANT WOMEN’S REFUGE – Executive Director MELVILLE THOMAS CHARLES BOASE Honorary Treasurer – BOASE COHEN & COLLINS SOLICITORS – Senior Partner, Legal Counsel LISBETH HAMARK CHURCH OF SWEDEN – Lay Missionary SIS. MARIA LUISA LIMGENCO MARYKNOLL SISTERS OF ST. DOMINIC, INC. Administrator in Hong Kong FR. EMILIO LIM MEMBER – CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF HONG KONG & CHINA – Chaplain for Filipinos in Hong Kong EMMANUEL VILLANUEVA DOMESTIC WORKER and Secretary General of UNIFIL-HK RAMON BULTRON ASIA-PACIFIC MISSION FOR MIGRANTS – Managing Director THE REV DR PHILIP WICKERI Member – Associate THE VERY REVD. MATTHIAS CLEMENT TZE WO DER 謝子和牧師 Ex-Officio Member – ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL – Dean of the Cathedral CYNTHIA CA ABDON-TELLEZ General Manager, MFMW Ltd.
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MFMW Ltd. Partners and Supporters for 2013 -HONG KONGST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL and its daughter Churches (Hong Kong) Love Ideas, Love Hong Kong of the Li Ka Shing Foundation (Hong Kong) HK and Far East Masonic Benevolence Fund Corporation (Hong Kong) HER FUND (Hong Kong)
-OVERSEASBank of America Charitable Foundation Donor Advised Fund at Give2Asia (USA) Church of Sweden (Sweden) Evangelisches Missionswerk (Germany) General Board of Global Ministries - United Methodist Church (USA) The Episcopal Church (USA) United Methodist Women (USA) Women's World Day of Prayer – German Committee (Germany) & Countless individual donors
THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR SERVICE TO MIGRANT WORKERS POSSIBLE
If you would like to support the work of MFMW Ltd or Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge, you can donate here: (Donations of HK$100 or more are tax-deductible) Acct. Name: MFMW Limited Acct. Number: 210-116448-001 Hang Seng Bank 83 Des Voeux Road CENTRAL, Hong Kong
Acct: Name: Bethune House Migrant Women’s Refuge Ltd Acct Number: 2848-241-309 Hang Seng Bank 83 Des Voeux Road CENTRAL, Hong Kong