A Philippine domestic worker who was sexually abused by her Hong Kong employer is to take the territory’s police to court over their decision not to classify her as a victim of human trafficking, her lawyers said yesterday.
Advocates have long argued that Hong Kong’s 370,000 domestic workers — mostly poor women from the Philippines and Indonesia — are acutely vulnerable to various forms of exploitation, including sexual abuse, and have backed calls for a suite of dedicated anti-trafficking laws.
Authorities have rejected those demands, but face a legal challenge after a rare successful conviction of an employer sexually abusing a domestic helper.
The woman — referred to in legal documents as “CB” — was hired to work as a domestic helper for Brian Apthorp, a British permanent resident in his 80s.
She alleged that Apthorp routinely sexually assaulted her throughout her employment in 2018 and 2019.
Apthorp was yesterday convicted of two counts of indecent assault against CB, and is to be sentenced on July 15.
CB’s lawyers said that she felt let down by the response from police and prosecutors, particularly their decision to try Apthorp in the Magistrate’s Court, which deals with the least serious offenses and where prison sentences are capped at shorter lengths.
They have launched a judicial review against the commissioner of police and the secretary for justice over their handling of the case.
News of the potentially landmark legal challenge came the same day Hong Kong’s government hit out at a decision by the US to keep it on a human trafficking watch list.
Each year the US Department of State assesses countries for whether they are adequately tackling human trafficking.
In its latest report, US officials said that Hong Kong was still not doing enough to identify trafficking victims and prosecute abusers, keeping it on its “tier two watch list,” ranking alongside countries such as Belarus, Liberia and Thailand.
“The absence of laws criminalizing all forms of trafficking impeded officials’ ability to investigate and charge suspected traffickers,” the report’s authors wrote.
In a legal briefing, CB’s lawyers said they plan to argue that Hong Kong needs “bespoke legislation” to counter forced labor.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS