Submission to the Home Affairs Bureau on the
Need for Legislation to Prohibit Racial Discrimination in Hong Kong

Rose Wu
Hong Kong Christian Institute

I am writing on behalf of the Hong Kong Christian Institute (HKCI) to express our concern about the issue of racial discrimination in Hong Kong and to urge the SAR government to adopt legislation outlawing racial discrimination.

Clear Evidence of Racial Discrimination

According to the report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) prepared by the Coalition for Racial Equality (CORE) and the Hong Kong Human Rights Commission, of which HKCI is a member, new immigrants from mainland China, ethnic minorities and migrant workers in Hong Kong systematically face discrimination with abuse based on their color, race, ethnicity, nationality, class and gender. These groups are crucial to upholding the community’s prosperity, and yet they are clearly denied the same fundamental rights as other members of society. Studies show that racial discrimination is widespread in Hong Kong in such areas as immigration, housing, employment, education, politics, access to social security and commercial establishments.

There are now two current issues before the community which clearly illustrate how vulnerable groups, such as foreign domestic workers and new immigrants from mainland China, suffer from discrimination. Regarding the first group, the Education and Manpower Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government has recently stated that it is now considering lowering the minimum wage of foreign domestic workers by as much as 30 percent, using the pretext that domestic helpers must share the same economic burden as the rest of the Hong Kong populace at this time of economic crisis. The second case concerns children who are waiting for right of abode in Hong Kong and are being denied their natural right to an education.

The Equal Opportunity Commission’s Position

In 2000, the Hong Kong Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) received more than 60 complaints relating to racial discrimination, which are more than the total number of complaints from 1996 to 1999. The chairperson of the EOC, Anna Wu, said that this is clear evidence that racial discrimination is becoming a more significant issue in Hong Kong that requires a serious and sustained government commitment to eradicate the problem.

The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s Position

In August 9, 2001, CERD, in releasing its concluding observations on Hong Kong, insisted that the Hong Kong SAR should enact laws to prohibit racial discrimination. The U.N. committee was not satisfied with the existing state of discrimination in Hong Kong and recommended that appropriate legal remedies that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin be introduced in a similar fashion to the government’s statutory response regarding discrimination on the grounds of gender and disability.

HKCI’s Position

We do not accept the government’s use of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights as an excuse for not enacting legislation against discrimination based on race. As is widely known, the Bill of Rights only protects the people of Hong Kong from discriminatory acts of the government and public authorities; the legislation does not apply to acts between private parties.

We also disagree with the government’s view that it is adequate to merely use an educational approach to solve the problem of discrimination based on race. Instead, we support the stance of Anna Wu, the chairperson of the EOC, who has said that enacting legislation itself is the best strategy to educate and to change the stereotypes and prejudices of racial discrimination in the community.

We are strongly against the government’s argument that once legislation prohibiting racial discrimination is enacted it might affect foreign investment and place a greater burden on Hong Kong’s business community. We believe that human dignity should not be sacrificed for any reason, including economic gain. Human dignity and equality are the highest values. They cannot be compromised nor diminished through negotiation. They cannot be quantified by any economic argument. They are priceless.

In view of the above comments, we urge the Hong Kong government to:

(1) Publicly acknowledge that racial discrimination is a serious issue in Hong Kong and that there is a need to create and enact a Racial Discrimination Ordinance (RDO) to provide the necessary legal mechanisms to combat racial discrimination;

(2) Apply the RDO to both the private sphere and the public sphere, including all government departments and bodies, including the Immigration Department;

(3) Extend the mandate of the EOC to assume responsibility for regulating and monitoring the implementation of the RDO; and

(4) Create more effective public education strategies and programs to promote racial harmony and combat racial discrimination, targeting in particular the civil service, the education system and the general pubic.

Contact person:
Rose Wu (Director)
Tel: 2398 1699
Fax: 2787 4765

21st December, 2001