Hong Kong’s COVID-19 response shows
room for greater cultural sensitivity
When a group of more
than 300 Hong Kong residents returned from Pakistan on a Government-chartered
flight and entered Chun Yeung Estate for a 14-day quarantine in early May,
little did they know that they would be served with ham sandwiches and cup
noodles containing pork – until the Pakistan Consulate, the Incorporated
Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund, community leaders, NGOs and others
stepped in.
A considerable number of
Pakistanis are Muslims, many of whom observe the practice of eating Halal food
and refraining from pork.
To the further surprise
of those who fast during daytime in the month of Ramadan (from 24 April to 23
May), for the first few days at the quarantine centre, breakfast was delivered
after sunrise, while dinner came hours after sunset.
While the Hong Kong
Government quickly rectified the missteps, the incident revealed a deeper issue
that has existed even before the outbreak – our city’s insensitivity towards
the needs of ethnic minorities.
When the novel
coronavirus first broke out, official information on health protection and
quarantine measures were published in Chinese and English only. Information
later became available in languages more commonly used by ethnic minority
communities, such as Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, Sinhalese,
Tagalog, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese, and yet the translation was often
incomplete and, at times, inaccurate.
Information asymmetry
means vulnerability. With limited knowledge of both English and digital
technology, some ethnic minority elders felt confused during the initial stages
of the outbreak as to why people were queuing up for surgical masks and hand
sanitisers. By the time they realised how and why protective gear matters,
supplies had run short and prices had rocketed.
In one of the more
extreme episodes of communication breakdown, a Nepalese man was reportedly
hospitalised by mistake when it was his son who had tested positive for the
virus.
But the plight facing
ethnic minorities went far beyond language barriers. Take foreign domestic
workers as an example – whether it is the pressure of additional work demands,
the unease of staying with an employer under home quarantine, or the fear of
getting dismissed after going out on a rest day, the pandemic has taken a toll
on both their physical and psychological well-being.
The Labour Department
has reminded employers of foreign domestic workers that they could violate the
Employment Ordinance by compelling a worker to work on a rest day without her
or his agreement, or by failing to grant rest days to a worker. The Equal
Opportunities Commission (EOC) has also published an FAQ
about the rights of foreign domestic workers and the obligations of their
employers under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance, which states that any
discriminatory act based on an infectious disease must be reasonably necessary
for the purpose of protecting public health.
Still, the fact remains
that the pandemic has ravaged industries with a substantial number of ethnic
minority employees, including aviation, catering, construction, hospitality and
others. Jobs have been axed, incomes slashed, and families left struggling to
pay rent and other bills, let alone affording laptops and high-speed Internet
for their children to get on board with online learning.
Leaders of a few ethnic
minority communities have further expressed to the EOC that a celebration of
values such as self-reliance, combined with stigma around recipients of social
security assistance, may discourage some people from applying for financial
support even in these difficult times. The Government therefore needs to work
around these cultural deterrents in publicising its subsidy schemes and other
special relief measures to ensure they benefit all those in need.
From advising Government
departments to issue more guidance tailored for different communities to
promoting inclusive workplace practices through a charter
for employers and studying the feasibility of establishing an
accreditation system for interpreters working with minority languages, the EOC
has strived to knock down the long-standing language, cultural and
socio-economic barriers confronting ethnic minorities, heightened recently by
COVID-19.
Ultimately, however,
there is a need for a fundamental shift in the mindset of policymakers,
employers and the public alike. For one thing, ethnic minorities are an asset
to the city – they contribute to the economy and fight the pandemic just as
determinedly as every other member of society, if not harder. Their well-being,
in other words, is closely tied to the interests of the larger community, and
an inclusive approach is key to resolving our crises, be it COVID-19 or the
economic downturn.
And instead of rushing
to defuse one problem after another as they come up, the Government should
adopt a more holistic perspective – one that ensures every policy, every
measure is designed with the needs and rights of ethnic minorities at its
heart. Cultural sensitivity, in short, should be a priority, not an
afterthought.
Ricky CHU Man-kin
Chairperson, Equal
Opportunities Commission
(Note: A version of this
article was released on EJ Insight, Inmediahk.net,
South China Morning Post, Stand News and
The Standard in May 2020.)