Is your company sharing co-working space or communal office with other organisations? Does your company offer internship for students? Are you volunteering for any organisation? Whatever your role and wherever you work, you deserve a safe and harassment-free working space to pursue your professional and other goals.

Since June 2020, the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Disability Discrimination Ordinance and Race Discrimination Ordinance have been amended to prohibit sexual, disability and racial harassment between workplace participants in common workplaces. Under the law, “workplace participants” are defined to include employers, employees, interns, volunteers, partners in a firm, contract workers and their principals, as well as commission agents and their principals. The law further defines “workplace” as any place attended by a person as a workplace participant, or a place where a person works as a workplace participant.

To raise the public’s awareness of the enhanced protection, specifically harassment in common workplaces, the EOC has recently released a set of TV and radio APIs (announcements in the public interest). The TV API highlights the possible scenarios in which sexual, disability and racial harassment may occur in common workplaces, including an intern being sexually harassed by her boss, an employee of a charitable organisation making derogatory remarks about a voluntary worker and his disability, and a consignment promoter making sarcastic comments about the race of a consignment promoter from another company in a large retail shop. Since 27 May, the APIs can be watched/listened on various channels of free TV, pay TV and RTHK TV, as well as various channels of three radio stations, namely RTHK, Commercial Radio and Metro Broadcast. Public may also view the TV APIs on the EOC’s YouTube channel.

The release of the APIs, which followed the display of posters at around 60 MTR stations during 1-14 May 2021, is the latest educational and publicity effort of the EOC to promote the enhanced protection under the Discrimination Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance 2020. Indeed, since the Ordinance took effect last June, the EOC has been publishing leaflets, guidance and magazine articles to educate the public about the changes to Hong Kong’s anti-discrimination laws.

Download our explainer here to learn more about how the law defines sexual, disability and racial harassment.

Read the Press Release
Watch the TV API on EOC’s YouTube channel
Read the leaflet on sexual, disability and racial harassment in common workplaces
Read the leaflet in other languages
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It has been two weeks since the EOC officially announced the results of the inaugural Equal Opportunity Employer Recognition Scheme on 14 May, and the excitement just keeps rolling, with honoured employers collecting their accolades during a series of awards presentation ceremonies on 14, 21 and 26 May. The excitement also went viral, as organisations flaunted their awards in tweets and posts on their social media accounts.

Owing to social distancing measures under COVID-19, the EOC held the awards presentation ceremonies in batches for the 160 organisations named Equal Opportunity Employers. They were selected by the assessment panels out of 420 applications by 192 organisations across a wide spectrum of industries and sectors.

Officiating at the ceremonies, EOC Chairperson Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin thanked the employers for their enthusiastic support and participation in the Recognition Scheme, which aims to raise awareness of the benefits of equal opportunity employment policies and practices, and encourage more employers to adopt these policies.

“The selected Equal Opportunity Employers are all role models, excelling in the implementation of equal opportunity employment policies. We hope to leverage on the Recognition Scheme as a platform for sharing experiences and best practices, such that more employers will be inspired to adopt similar policies and practices,” said Mr Chu.

To widely publicise the results of the Recognition Scheme, the EOC published the lists of Equal Opportunity Employers and recipients of the Gold Award and Outstanding SME Award in five local newspapers, namely Hong Kong Economic Times, Ming Pao Daily, Sing Tao Daily, South China Morning Post and The Standard, on 17 May, besides uploading them onto the Scheme’s website.

View the list of awardees and recognised employers
About the Scheme 3

On 20 May 2021, the EOC officially turned 25! For two and a half decades, the EOC has been a guardian of gender, disability, family status and racial equality in Hong Kong. On the special occasion of its 25th anniversary, the EOC released a commemorative video on the Commission’s YouTube channel. Featuring EOC Chairperson Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin as the narrator, the video showcases the history and milestones of the EOC, as well as the impact created through the years.

Mr Chu also released a Chinese article right before the 25th anniversary of the EOC, which was published in Stand News and Hong Kong Economic Journal on 18 and 19 May respectively, following his Letter to Hong Kong broadcast on RTHK Radio 3 on 16 May.

In these articles, Mr Chu took the readers down memory lane, as he recounted the progress and achievements of the EOC through the years. From conducting formal investigation into the accessibility of publicly accessible premises, releasing reports on the educational challenges of non-ethnic Chinese students and setting up dedicated units to tackle the barriers faced by the ethnic minority communities and the sexual harassment problem across different sectors to advocating enhancement to the anti-discrimination ordinances, the EOC “has always walked the talk, going beyond finger-pointing to make tangible and meaningful change”, Mr Chu pointed out.

Mr Chu also assured the public that the EOC has and will always be an independent and vocal defender of the right to equality. “The EOC is aware that our mission to eliminate discrimination has become an increasingly daunting challenge amid the intensifying polarisation of society and the general decline of trust in public institutions.” Looking ahead, the EOC will continue to press for further progress and positive change – “from shattering the glass ceiling facing women and destigmatising mental health issues to helping non-Chinese-speaking students make a better transition from school to work. The EOC is also committed to advocating to the Government to expand the list of protected characteristics under the anti-discrimination law, so that new immigrants, LGBT people and other vulnerable communities can seek legal redress when subjected to undue discrimination,” wrote Mr Chu.

Watch the video on EOC’s YouTube channel
Read Mr Chu’s Letter to Hong Kong
Read Mr Chu’s op-ed article (Chinese only) 4

It is often said that “Diversity is a fact, inclusion is a choice.” While Hong Kong is one of the most multicultural cities in Asia with a vibrant mix of diverse cultures, not all of us may have the chance to understand the differences in the cultures across the city. The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (World Cultural Diversity Day in short), held on 21 May every year, offers an excellent opportunity to do so. Declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002, the World Day serves to promote culture and highlight the significance of its diversity as an agent of inclusion and positive change, and a means of achieving sustainable development and global peaceful coexistence.

Riding on this World Day, the EOC is organising a range of activities between 21 May and 3 June 2021, including curated conversations with signatories of the Racial Diversity and Inclusion Charter for Employers on their workplace practices, which are captured in videos. An opinion article entitled “Hong Kong must do more to build on the strength of its diversity” by EOC Chairperson Mr Ricky CHU Man-kin was also published in the South China Morning Post on 28 May.

On 3 June (3pm – 4:30pm), the EOC will host a panel discussion named Diverse Voices on Diversity, during which four Hongkongers with diverse backgrounds will share their stories. The four speakers are: Mr Ajmal SAMUEL, entrepreneur of OCTO3 Group Holdings Limited; Dr Raees BAIG, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Social Work at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Dr Sukhdeep SINGH, doctor at the Prince of Wales Hospital; and Mr Randell ARANZA, Customer Care Manager of AXA Hong Kong & Macau.

Click the links below to find out more information about the activities and register for the online panel discussion.

Watch the videos on the conversations with the Charter signatories
About the EOC’s activities in celebration of the World Cultural Diversity Day
Sign up for the panel discussion
Read Mr Chu’s article in South Morning Post