Press Release: Foreign maids hit health officials on swine flu racial profiling; Call for better access to health services for all
“It is SARS all over again. With the swine flu epidemic, the threats of racial profiling and discriminatory treatment against foreign workers in Hong Kong loom once more.”
This was declared by Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) in response to calls by the HK government for employers of foreign domestic helpers (FDWs) to control the days off and mobility of FDWs following the first reported case of a Filipino migrant who contracted the swine flu virus.
Recently, HK undersecretary for health Gabriel Leung’s was quoted in the media as saying that Filipino domestics may be carriers of the swine flu virus and that employers should consider switching days off for them.
Balladares pointed out that the first reported cases of swine flu were not from the Philippines but from countries like the USA, UK, and Australia. “But do nationals from these countries get the same degrading treatment and profiling that Filipino maids get?” she remarked.
Aside from this, she added that among locals, cases already run in the hundreds but they are merely advised preventive health practices and to take care of themselves.
“Why is it restriction for FDWs? The nightmare on migrants’ rights is being resurrected as the time of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) years ago. When will HK health authorities become more racially-sensitive and desist from issuing statements and advices that adversely impact on the rights of migrants as workers and as human beings?” she added.
Balladares reported that following the government officials’ statement, some of their members informed them that their employers have already ordered them to stay away from places where migrants congregate, or have informed them of plans to change their day off.
“While prevention of spreading the H1N1 virus is also our concern, we find it absurd for Undersecretary Leung to project FDWs, Filipinos in particular, as carriers of such virus. How can restriction of our mobility prevent the H1N1 from spreading when said restrictions are not applied to the rest of the Hong Kong people who are also susceptible to the virus? This is such a baseless racial profiling and discriminatory to boot,” she stressed.
According to Balladares stereotyping of Filipino domestic helpers as carriers of disease also occurred early this year when HK health officials irresponsibly declared that Filipinos are more prone to the ‘Superbug’ virus.
Balladares said that instead of creating “paranoia”, HK government should instead ensure that medical and health services are made more accessible to everyone, including migrant workers. Preventive measures such as masks and vitamins should be made available for free especially to the disadvantaged and vulnerable sectors of the society.
“Better health access and services and not racial profiling are what will show the international community that HK is concerned about the health and wellbeing of everyone. We’ve been bombarded by racist remarks and discriminatory treatment already. Let this madness and baseless and unhealthy claims stop,” she concluded.