Antislavery Usable Past

DE

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.

DE, a 24-year-old woman from Malang was made to work more than 18 hours a day, seven days a week:

My employer was also the owner of my placement agency. I worked from 6am to 12:30am or until the employer went to bed. I was not allowed to sleep unless after she went to bed. She didn’t like me resting or sitting around, so whenever I was done with one task, she gave me more work to do. I didn’t have a rest day – instead on Sundays, my employer made me work at her agency cooking and selling Indonesian food. She did not pay me for this extra work.

Any time that my employer was angry with me, she slapped me everywhere. She hit me with a plastic chair on my right shin, which left a bruise, and scratched my face. I can’t count how many times this happened because it was too numerous. After six months, I ran away because I was afraid of enduring more of her physical abuse.

During the conciliation process at the Labour Department, my employer only wanted to give me HK$4,000 [US$515] out of HK$21,000 [US$2,709], which I was due for all the rest days and holidays I didn’t get, plus the flight home. Because I refused to accept this settlement, my case will now go to the Tribunal. This of course means that I have to stay longer in Hong Kong without a job.

Narrative provided by Amnesty International

Country

Theme

Domestic slavery

Tags

2011-2013 (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: rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk. 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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