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| Camping tents on Chater Road were banned in 2017 |
Migrant
workers’ coalition Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, has lashed back at complaints
published in social media and mainstream media about migrant domestic workers camping
out in tents at bus terminals, parks and other public areas during the
holidays.
The
reports came out after pictures of tents lined up at public places across the
city were posted online, prompting
suggestions they were used by mainland tourists who came in droves during the “golden
week” holidays.
It turned
out, migrant workers were the ones using the tents as their resting spaces,
with many saying they had been driven out of parks where they used to spend their
days off.
In a
statement, AMCB spokesperson Sheila Tebia- Bonifacio said migrant workers are
forced to hang out in tents or on cardboard boxes on their days off because
they have nowhere to go to rest their tired body and mind after six days of
long and backbreaking work.
“Instead
of viewing MDWs hanging out in public areas as a ‘public problem,’ shouldn’t
the sending sending and host governments be asked what kind of services they
are providing to the more than 340,000 MDWs who play such a vital role in
taking care of the majority of Hong Kong families?”, said Bonifacio.
She cited
a recent AMCB study that showed 70% of migrant workers (35 out of 50
respondents) are not provided their own room in their employers’ houses.
“So, it is not surprising that,
despite the hot weather and uncomfortable resting places, MDWs stay in these
areas because most of them do not have proper accommodation at their employers'
houses,” Bonifacio added.
She called on the Hong Kong
government to address the lack of proper accommodation for MDWs and provide
them with dedicated resting places during Sundays and public holidays.
Bonifacio also claimed that discrimination
has replaced the previously tolerant attitude of the Hong Kong government
towards MDWs who use open public spaces to gather on their days off.
“While
parks used to be open for domestic workers to hang out, now even sitting is
gradually being banned, displacing MDWs from Chater Garden, the footbridges in
Central, and other areas. MDWs have nowhere to go during the rest of the day,
because we have no home in HK and are trapped in a mandatory live-in policy,”
said Bonifacio.
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| Police dismantling cardboard 'rooms' off Chater Road during the pandemic |
Because many migrant workers are forced
to live with their employers in tiny flats where they are not given their own
rooms, they are left with no choice but to stay outdoors, where a tent of a
makeshift cardboard shelter is all they could use to give them privacy and protection
from the weather, said Bonifacio.
A Filipino educator who recently came
to Hong Kong to conduct a research on long-distance parenting by migrant women,
supported AMCB’s call for a rethink of how Hong Kong could provide suitable
rest spaces for migrant workers, especially during Sundays and public holidays.
In a Facebook post, Wilbert Wanas suggested that the Hong Kong
government, in consultation with community and migrant organizations, identify
more suitable resting areas for migrant workers during these days.
“These may be shaded, accessible areas with seating, toilets, drinking water, and proper waste
facilities. Such spaces need not be extravagant. They only need to recognize
that rest requires more than permission. It requires place,”said Wanas.
On top of
these, she suggested the government revisit how the living conditions inside
employers’ homes are monitored in terms of privacy, suitable accommodation and humane
working conditions.
She also
advocated for strengthening support for shelter and migrant help centers, saying
their experiences could help policymakers better understand the kind of
assistance needed by migrant workers before something untoward happens.
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