{"id":6731,"date":"2014-04-18T15:42:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-14T11:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=6731"},"modified":"2014-04-14T23:25:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T15:25:40","slug":"hong-kong-erwiana-returns-to-face-new-ordeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2014\/04\/18\/6731\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong: Erwiana returns to face new ordeal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong and Indonesian governments should also stand trial over migrant workers\u2019 rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Socialist Action reporters in Hong Kong<\/p>\n

The return of Erwiana Sulistyaningsih to Hong Kong is a major event for the city\u2019s 330,000 migrant domestic workers. Erwiana arrived from Indonesia along with family members and supporters on 7 April in readiness for the trial of former employer Law Wan Tung which resumes on 29 April. Law faces a catalogue of charges including causing grievous bodily harm arising from her mistreatment of Erwiana and two other former employees. These women also gained the courage to come forward after Erwiana\u2019s case shot to international prominence.<\/p>\n

This is the first time back in Hong Kong for Erwiana, who was left at the airport by her employer on January 10, badly injured, with a ticket back to Indonesia. This followed an 8-month ordeal of torture, beatings and malnourishment. Doctors in Indonesia treated her for severe swelling of the brain and other injuries. Quizzed about why they did not react upon seeing Erwiana\u2019s condition at the airport, Hong Kong immigration officials said they could not tell she was covered in bruises because she is \u201cdark skinned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Kidnapped\u2019 by officials<\/strong><\/p>\n

As if these earlier injustices were not enough, a new ordeal began for Erwiana upon her arrival back in Hong Kong. Indonesian officials supported by Hong Kong police surrounded her group and forced her against her will to follow them to the Indonesian consulate. A group of Hong Kong supporters and migrant rights activists were physically obstructed from meeting her. \u201cThe circumstances of Erwiana\u2019s return to Hong Kong are nothing less than shocking,\u201d said barrister Robert Tibbo, who is a legal advisor to the city\u2019s migrant groups. Hong Kong police reportedly threatened Erwiana with deportation if she did not follow the consular officials.<\/p>\n

This led to a demonstration the following day with around 50 migrant workers and supporters gathering outside the Indonesian consulate demanding \u201cRelease Erwiana!\u201d Under this pressure, Erwiana was allowed to leave the consulate after a 24-hour incarceration. \u201cShe felt like she was living in a jail. The consulate pushed her to stay against her will. If she did not stay, they would not follow the case,\u201d explained Eni Lestari of the Justice for Erwiana and All Migrant Domestic Workers Committee.<\/p>\n

This outrageous sequence of events shows the fear of both the Hong Kong and Indonesian authorities over the political effects of Erwiana\u2019s case and the potential threat it poses to the lucrative trafficking of domestic workers which both governments profit from. These governments want to control the narrative surrounding the trial to discourage migrant workers from fighting for their rights and winning more sympathy from the Hong Kong populace.<\/p>\n

\"Erwiana<\/a>
Erwiana is forced to leave the airport with police and Indonesian consular officials.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Modern-day slavery<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Erwiana scandal marks a turning point in the struggle against the raw exploitation of migrant workers in Hong Kong. In a widely reported survey from last year, Amnesty International branded Hong Kong\u2019s treatment of migrants as modern-day slavery.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers in Hong Kong frequently subject migrant domestic workers to serious human rights violations in Hong Kong, including physical or verbal abuse; restricting their freedom of movement; prohibiting them from practising their faith; not paying them the minimum wage; not giving them adequate rest periods; and arbitrarily terminating their contracts, often in collusion with placement agencies,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

Erwiana\u2019s case triggered a massive protest movement among Hong Kong\u2019s migrant women workers with a series of big demonstrations to demand changes in the current harsh employment laws that trap them in a an unregulated and unprotected grey zone of the labour market.<\/p>\n

Migrant advocacy groups and fledgling trade unions are demanding three changes in particular:<\/p>\n