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Calls to limit air-con for Hong Kong maids draw criticism

HONG KONG — Calls to limit air conditioning for Hong Kong’s domestic helpers, including a comment by a politician that maids should get “used to the hot weather”, have sparked criticism from rights groups on Friday (Aug 11).

Foreign domestic helpers gathering beneath the HSBC building in Hong Kong's Central district. Photo: AFP

Foreign domestic helpers gathering beneath the HSBC building in Hong Kong's Central district. Photo: AFP

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HONG KONG — Calls to limit air conditioning for Hong Kong’s domestic helpers, including a comment by a politician that maids should get “used to the hot weather”, have sparked criticism from rights groups on Friday (Aug 11).

The city is home to over 340,000 migrant domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, but concerns have grown over their welfare after several high-profile abuse cases. The maids are required by law to live with their employers which rights campaigners say makes it hard for them to escape mistreatment.

Lawmaker Michael Lee, who heads a group for employers of maids, said in a radio interview that helpers should be accustomed to the weather as they came from “hot, hot” countries and called on employers to establish firm house rules.

“If they come from a hot country, they should get used to the hot weather,” Mr Lee later told AFP.

However, he conceded that the sweltering temperatures of recent weeks could mean helpers should be allowed air-con at night, but only so they can continue in their household duties.

“Otherwise she can’t sleep, then she can’t work,” said Mr Lee, a district councillor and spokesman for the pro-business Liberal Party’s Taskforce on Foreign Helper’s Problems, which speaks for the employers of maids.

“I recommend all employers in Hong Kong set up house rules saying what they can and cannot do,” he added.

One employer’s Facebook post went viral this week after she expressed outrage that her helper had switched on the air-conditioning in her room at night without permission, as temperatures topped 30 deg C with high humidity.

“I’m very angry,” the woman – identified only as Ms Wong – said, according to a screenshot of the now deleted post on a closed group for Hong Kong employers of foreign helpers, published by Apple Daily newspaper.

Ms Wong described her maid to be “audacious to the extreme” and said that she would remove the air-conditioning switch.

Campaigners for helpers’ rights said that limiting air conditioning was “ridiculous, unfair and inhumane”.

“To regulate foreign domestic helpers’ usage of air-conditioning is inhumane and will cause their health to deterioriate,” said former domestic helper Eni Lestari, spokeswoman for the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body.

Hong Kong made international headlines after an employer was jailed for six years in 2015 for the horrific abuse of her former helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih.

Rights groups have also criticised exploitative recruitment agencies that extract exorbitant fees from migrants.

Campaigners have long sought reforms, including ending the “two-week rule” where domestic workers must leave the city 14 days after they quit a job, unless they can find other employment within that time.

They have also called for the abolition of the “live-in” rule.

But so far, the government has shown no indication it will relax the regulations. AFP

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