Antislavery Usable Past

IR

2013 (Narrative Date)

There are an estimated 10,000 people living in modern slavery in Hong Kong (GSI 2018). Approximately 370,000 foreign domestic workers, primarily from Indonesia and the Philippines, work in Hong Kong; some become victims of forced labour in the private homes in which they are employed. An NGO report released in 2016 estimated as many as one in six foreign domestic workers is a victim of labour exploitation. Employment agencies often charge job placement fees in excess of legal limits, and sometimes withhold identity documents, which may lead to situations of debt bondage of workers in Hong Kong. The accumulated debts sometimes amount to a significant portion of the worker’s first year salary. Some employers or employment agencies illegally withhold passports, employment contracts, or other possessions until the debt is paid. Some workers are required to work up to 17 hours per day, experience verbal, sexual or physical abuse in the home, and/or are not granted a legally required weekly day off.

IR, a 29-year-old woman from Ponorogo (2009-2011), was trafficked to Hong Kong and deceived by her broker.

My broker told me that I would earn the full salary of HK$3,580 [US$460] but two weeks after my arrival at the training centre in Tangerang, the recruitment agency boss told me that I would be paid HK$2,600 [US$330]. I wanted to go back home but I couldn’t because the staff told me that if I backed out now, I would have to pay the agency a penalty of IDR 12,000,000 [US$1,230].

I never left the training centre in the four months that I was there because the staff warned me that if I left, it would not be viewed positively and my application process for employment in Hong Kong would take longer.

The instructors kept telling us to study hard and were never satisfied. They called me stupid and threatened that if I didn’t work harder, they would not send me to Hong Kong.

My employer held on to my contract and passport. When I asked for them back, she refused and said that the placement agency had instructed her to keep them with her.

[…]

In September 2010, I went to the Consulate during my rest day to complain about being underpaid, but the staff yelled at me and said that I must obey my employer and do my job. They said that for migrant domestic workers like me with no previous work experience abroad, underpayment was the normal expected salary. The staff also told me that I could not get full salary [HK$3,580 or US$460] in my second contract if I didn’t finish my first one.

Narrative provided by Amnesty International

Country

Theme

Domestic slavery

Tags

2009-2011 (Enslavement period)

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: [email protected]. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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