The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) welcomes the wide array of initiatives that the Chief Executive set out in the Policy Address 2024 to address the needs of various communities, improve livelihoods and foster a caring and inclusive society.

EOC Chairperson Ms Linda LAM Mei-sau said, “The Chief Executive put forward various policy measures to improve livelihoods in the Policy Address, such as establishing more social enterprises that employ people with disabilities, extend the support services for the elderly and carers, strengthening Chinese language learning support for non-Chinese speaking students and establishing more support service centres for ethnic minorities. The EOC is in strong support of these policy measures, which are focused on addressing the needs of the marginalised communities and ethnic minorities, thereby improving their quality of life while enhancing their social integration.”

Ms Lam continued, “We also welcome the measures related to mental health needs in the Policy Address, including the provision of transitional support service for persons in mental recovery. Researches by the EOC show that people with mental health needs and those in recovery continue to face stereotypes, biases and discrimination in both the workplace and in society. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to improve public awareness of this issue to ensure that the public has a positive and accurate understanding of mental health.”

“Separately, the EOC strongly supports the SAR Government’s proactive measures to improve the tourism infrastructure across different sectors and foster a visitor-friendly environment. These measures, including providing information at the airport in Arabic, compiling a list of restaurants offering halal food, encouraging more commercial establishments to provide appropriate facilities, such as worship facilities in hotels, and improving staff training to strengthen their understanding of visitors from different cultural backgrounds, will not only improve the tourism industry and the public’s understanding of and sensitivity towards different cultures, but they will also improve racial harmony in the community. Indeed, the EOC has been leveraging different platforms to promote racially-friendly customer service,” Ms Lam said.

“The EOC will strengthen publicity and public education to promote the values of mutual respect, diversity and inclusion. By encouraging the public to challenge biases and discrimination, we will work to foster a caring and inclusive society that embraces the values of diversity and inclusion,” Ms Lam concluded.

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