The same day that Sukhi* landed in Hong Kong in April 2018 after a long flight from India, she was forced to start work.
So began a years-long trauma trapped in slave-like conditions.
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“I thought I would have a better life,” Sukhi told Al Jazeera, recalling how her male employer confiscated her phone and passport. She was just 21 years old, and it was her first time travelling overseas.
Later joined by her sister, she had to work 16-hour days, cleaning, cooking, and tending to the man’s children — as well as servicing clients in his beauty salon. “But there were no happy moments.”
For decades, Hong Kong’s 340,000 migrant domestic workers have faced abuse and exploitation, despite the economic and social benefits they bring to the Chinese-ruled territory. Lawyers, campaigners and workers blame a combination of low pay, weak labour laws, lax prosecution of wrongdoing by employers and punitive government policy.
But now the women are fighting back — in the courts and on the streets.
In January, a Hong Kong labour tribunal ruled in favour of Sukhi and her younger sister in a case against their former employer, who now faces significant fines and potentially jail time.
He was found to have illegally forced them...
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