立即停止歧視外傭 End Discrimination Against HK Foreign Domestic Workers, NOW!

On 30 September 2011, the Hong Kong High Court ruled that the restrictions imposed on foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in the current Immigration Ordinance violated the provision in Article 24 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, on the eligibility to apply for permanent residency after having lived in Hong Kong for seven years.

Under the existing Immigration Ordinance, non-Chinese people who have lived in Hong Kong with a legal identification document for seven years can apply to the Director of Immigration for permanent residency in Hong Kong. Having verified that the applicant takes Hong Kong as their permanent residence, the Department of Immigration will then approve the application. However, the provisions in the Immigration Ordinance amended during the Provisional Legislative Council after the handover discriminatively deprived only FDWs of the opportunity to apply for permanent residency.

The High Court ruling on 30 September restores to FDWs equal treatment as other migrant non-Chinese people, to possess the right to apply for residency in Hong Kong. The ruling successfully eliminates the occupational discrimination in the current Immigration Ordinance and brings along a positive message to the society. It shows Hong Kong’s core value of individual human equality, where “all are equal before the law.”

The High Court ruling also has effectively recognized that the Hong Kong government has committed serious discrimination and injustice against FDWs until now. The Hong Kong government and all Hong Kong society should recognize that a large number of FDWs have been facing deep human rights violations and social and legal discrimination due to current government policies not limited to the exclusion from the right of abode, but including for example exclusion from the statutory minimum wage, the live-in requirement, the limitless working hours per day, the ‘two-week rule’ (by which they may only stay two weeks in Hong Kong after the termination of the contract) and other conditions they uniquely face.

As Hong Kong residents, citizens and workers, we want to achieve a 'world city' based on justice and equal rights for all human beings. We stand together with the foreign domestic workers who we live with and benefit from in our society, to ask for the following:

於2011年9月30日，高等法院裁決現時《入境條例》限制外傭居港7年後申請居港權違反基本法24條。

根據現行《入境條例》，外籍人士合法居港住滿7年可向入境事務處處長申請居留權，處長接納申請人以香港為永久居住地將可獲取居留權。但是，由臨時立法會通過《入境條例》修訂條例於回歸後剝奪外傭申請居港權的機會。

9月30 日高等法院裁定外傭與其他外籍人士一樣擁有申請居港權利。此裁決成功消除《入境條例》中職業歧視，同時對社會發出正確訊息，向公眾表明法律面前人人平等這一核心價值。

高院認為直到現時香港政府嚴重歧視及不公平對待外傭。政府及社會各界應承認大量外傭面對不只是居留權，還包括諸如最低工資、規定外傭於僱主寓所居住、無固定工時、兩週離港要求(即外傭規定於合約完結後兩星期內必須離港)等對外傭嚴重違反人權及法例上歧視的措施。

作為香港市民及僱員，我們將會基於公義平等這些普世原則來建設香港這個國際都會。我們將會與我們休戚相關的外傭站在同一陣線，表達我們的訴求：