Community Paralegal Programme

Migrant domestic workers face unique challenges in resolving disputes with their employers. For example, migrant domestic workers are dependent on their employers’ sponsorship of their work visa and can often be terminated on little-to-no notice. These factors create substantial power imbalances and disincentives for migrant domestic workers to raise grievances or pursue claims for rights violations.

In addition, migrant domestic workers are required to live in their employer’s home. The close personal proximity between workers and employers, and the lack of separation between migrant domestic workers’ home and place of work, create further barriers for migrant domestic workers who wish to raise grievances with their employers.

A lack of information is another key barrier to the effective resolution disputes between migrant workers and employers. A 2020 study by the IOM found that half of employers of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong did not know, or were not sure, where to seek help if they encountered employment-related problems. Similarly, a 2019 survey of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong found that 96% of respondents did not know how to use dispute resolution mechanisms.

Against this backdrop, many migrant domestic workers are reliant on third parties - including social media networks, NGOs, consular officials, or employment agencies - to report grievances, mediate disputes, and navigate formal dispute resolution processes. While these actors play a crucial role in supporting migrant domestic workers to resolve disputes through formal and informal mechanisms, there is a lack of support for migrant domestic workers to be able to effectively advocate for their rights and resolve disputes with their employers themselves or on behalf of their peers.

Similarly, while there have been significant efforts by Governments and NGOs to help educate migrant domestic workers on their rights, there has been less attention paid to educating migrant domestic workers on how to effectively advocate for those rights with their employers, recruitment agents, and other actors, how to mediate disputes, or how to manage smaller, day-to-day issues that inevitably arise in any employment relationship, but can be more difficult to resolve given the unique power imbalances that exist in this context. Training in conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation, and de-escalation in particular can help migrant domestic workers to resolve smaller issues with employers before they develop into more serious issues that require more intensive interventions.

This activity aims to address the structural gaps outlined above through the community paralegal and peer education model that recognises that migrant domestic workers are their own best advocates. Community-based models of education and paralegal support can help overcome key barriers to access that can otherwise arise when seeking to provide support services to migrant domestic workers - including a lack of trust, language and cultural barriers, and difficulties in accessing workers who may not be accessible through more traditional forms of outreach (e.g. through visits to parks and public places on Sunday by NGO workers, pamphlets, advertisements, religious groups, and social media engagement).

Critically, in addition to using community paralegals to train and educate migrant domestic workers on how to effectively enforce and realise those rights, including through mediation and negotiation techniques, conflict resolution and de-escalation, documentation and preservation of evidence to support legal claims. Community paralegals are not expected to provide comprehensive assistance for migrant domestic workers and will therefore also be trained on conducting risk and needs assessments (including identifying indicators of trafficking in persons or forced labour) and identifying appropriate referral pathways for support and protection services as required.