Indonesian Erwiana Sulistyaningsih called for equal rights for all migrant workers in Hong Kong at a news conference on Tuesday (February) after her former employer was found guilty of abusing her.
Erwiana stood with migrant worker representatives at the news conference holding up signs that said “End Slavery”.
The landmark case triggered outrage over mistreatment of maids and shed light on abuse that many women face in overseas jobs.
Former beautician Law Wan-tung, 44, sobbed as the judge remanded her in custody after finding her guilty of 18 of 20 charges laid against her.
The charges included grievous bodily harm and violence against Erwiana and two other maids, also from Indonesia.
“As a human being, I could forgive her and her family, but since Hong Kong has a justice system, justice must be upheld,” Sulistyaningsih said.
“To employers in Hong Kong, I hope they will start treating migrant workers as workers and human beings and stop treating us like slaves. Because as human beings, we all have equal rights,” she added.
The court had heard how Erwiana was beaten and denied food and also had her passport confiscated. Law was also accused of failing to pay wages and not allowing Erwiana days off.
Law had threatened to kill her domestic helpers’ relatives if they disclosed abuse, the court heard.
Erwiana, who arrived in Hong Kong in 2013, returned to Indonesia in January last year where doctors said burns on her body were caused by boiling water.
She said her body is too weak for her to work as a domestic helper anymore.
Cynthia Abdon-Tellez, the general manager of Mission for Migrant Workers, a charity that runs a shelter for migrant workers in need, called the court’s decision “historic”.
“This historic decision ushers in a pool of opportunities for the Hong Kong government to reform its policies for the protection of the rights and welfare of foreign domestic workers,” Abdon-Tellez said.
Rights workers say Hong Kong’s policies on migrant workers often make domestic helpers reluctant to report abuse for fear of being deported.
Hong Kong has about 300,000 foreign domestic helpers, most of them from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Reuters
