Govt urged to stop ‘segregating’ domestic helpers

A migrant workers’ group on Sunday criticised the administration’s decision to limit new foreign domestic workers to serving their quarantine at a single hotel or a government facility, saying the measures amount to “segregation”.

Officials opened the way for fully-vaccinated helpers to travel from Indonesia and the Philippines last Monday, but they must spend 21 days at a designated hotel in Tsuen Wan or at the Penny’s Bay centre.

Labour minister Law Chi-kwong had earlier explained that the move was necessary to minimise any potential health risks and ensure an adequate supply of quarantine facilities for other people returning to the SAR.

But the spokeswoman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, Dolores Balladares, called the arrangement unfair and discriminatory.

“Why only foreign domestic workers?” she questioned.

“It gives us a thinking that we are virus carriers and therefore we will be put in one cage or one place so that you [the government] can monitor you every now and then.”

Balladares called on the authorities to stop targetting domestic helpers, saying it would be more acceptable for them to designate specific hotels for all travellers coming from high-risk areas.