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CUHK Social Work Department Announces:
The survey adopted the non-probability availability sampling method, soliciting the views of 135 respondents. The survey respondents are mainly born in India (24.4%), Hong Kong (22.2%), Pakistan (17.8%) and Nepal (17.8%). Their average duration of staying in Hong Kong is 11 years and most of them have received tertiary education (70.7%). In addition, five in-depth interviews and three focus groups (5 women of ethnic minorities, 7 social services professionals and 5 human rights activists) were conducted. According to the 2001 Census, 5% (or 344,000) of Hong Kong’s residents are non-Chinese. Among these ethnic minorities, the largest subgroups are of South and Southeast Asian origin. Most of these belong to the lower socioeconomic strata and are more susceptible to racial discrimination. The survey respondents clearly recognized the existence of racial discrimination. 67% of the respondents felt that they were often discriminated against because of their race. More than half of the respondents felt that racial discrimination is a serious social problem in Hong Kong (62.9%) and that their ethnicity determines their career progress (58.6%). Almost half of the respondents felt that they were seen as second-class citizens (48.2%). Discrimination most commonly happens in the work place and shops, where employees are being discriminated against by employers and customers being discriminated against by sales persons. From the respondents’ personal experience, over half of the respondents had a) heard that non-Chinese people are dirty or smelly (64.9%) or b) failed to get a job, although they were more qualified and competent than a Chinese person (58.8%), and some Chinese people opted to stand up rather than sit next to them in public transport or in public places (55.3%). However, almost none or of the respondents or only a rare few reported they were physically attacked or threatened with physical violence by a Chinese individual or group. When they experienced discrimination, 40.7% of the respondents said they chose to talk to friends of the same race to express their feelings. However, 72.2% of the young people among the respondents preferred not to voice out their feelings with their friends. When asked about their respond if they felt discriminated, 88.1% of the respondents would choose not to call the police. More than 80% of the respondents supported anti-racial discrimination legislation and commented that the government policies do not go far enough to fight racial discrimination. The survey data does point out that the majority of the respondents were uninformed not only about their rights under the law but also about other existing measures that could protect them, such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Race Relation Unit of the Hong Kong government, which deals with complaints on racial discrimination. However, almost 70% felt that the Education and Manpower Bureau’s recent inclusion policy for non-Chinese speaking student is helpful. According to the focus group with female minorities, the majority of them was unemployed or only able to get short-term or low-paying jobs. However, they were quite content with their situation when considering the living standard in their homeland. Some of them believed that the difficulties they had encountered were not due to racial discrimination. For example, they believed they had difficulties in job hunting due to their lack of working experience and proficiency in Chinese, rather than due to racial discrimination. Participants from the focus groups of social service professionals and human rights activists cited a number of problems that ethnic minorities faced: education, employment, housing and social services. For education, they commented that Hong Kong has a limited choice of schools and is short of opportunities for the minorities to acquire Chinese proficiency which allow them to compete effectively in public examinations and the job market. For employment, they felt that they were being discriminated against in terms of job opportunities and working conditions. One example cited is when a security guard was leery of signing an employment contract which was written in Chinese. For housing, there were complaints over a) property agents’ unwillingness to help ethnic minorities search for rental housing and b) landlords’ refusal to rent properties. For social service provision, participants opined that language barrier, insensitivity of government officials, and discrimination by community residents were some of the key factors limiting their access to education, employment, vocational training, and other social resources. Majority of the participants supported legislation against racial discrimination (84.4%); yet, they emphasized that ethnic minorities should be duly involved in the process and that related consultation documents should be published in their mother languages. They desired that the government take an active role promote respect and appreciation for ethnic diversity in Hong Kong. It was suggested that there should be more campaigns and public education to raise public awareness and educate people of the importance of social harmony and multiculturalism. Tailor-made services were recommended to fit the unique characteristics and geographical locations of different ethnic minorities. Empowerment-oriented intervention – aiming to promote mutual help, effective use of talents, and resources within their own communities – was necessary. They thought that such an approach would be more sustainable and could better meet the needs of these minorities.
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