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The EOC Reports on Work Plans and Progress

18/12/2008

Members of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) met today (Thursday, 18 December 2008) at the 75th EOC Meeting and discussed various matters related to the Commission’s business including the following:

EOC’s Recommendations to the Government on the Establishment of an Equal Opportunities Tribunal
Update on Public Consultation on Code of Practice on Employment under the Race Discrimination Ordinance
Reports of the Legal & Complaints Committee, Community Participation & Publicity Committee, Public Education & Research Committee, Administration & Finance Committee

Members discussed the proposed EOC’s recommendations to the Government on the Establishment of an Equal Opportunities Tribunal (EOT). Members examined the current mechanism for dealing with anti-discrimination claims, from complaint handling to adjudication by the District Court and the issues arising from this mechanism which may be considered undesirable. They examined the main features of relevant overseas practices and of specialized tribunals established in Hong Kong. Members also discussed the interface between the EOC and the proposed EOT.

Members were given an update on the public consultation on the Code of Practice on Employment under the Race Discrimination Ordinance. The EOC had extended the consultation period until 19 January 2009 in order to allow more time to receive representations from different stakeholders. During the extended consultation period, the EOC would continue to meet with different stakeholders, employers’ groups, human resources practitioners, trade unions and ethnic minority organizations.

The EOC Office had translated the Code into 6 minority languages for the purpose of facilitation and promotion of the Code. In addition, two more public consultation meetings on 10 January 2009 would be organized for the general public, with simultaneous interpretation provided.

The EOC would take into account the comments and suggestions received in revising the Code.

Brief reports from the Commission’s four Committees were discussed, charting the progress of various aspects of the EOC’s work in the past quarter.

Statistics for complaint handling for the first eleven months of 2008

	2007 (Jan to Nov)	2008 (Jan to Nov)	Compared with same period last year
Complaints under DDO	459 (58%)	415 (56%)	-10%
Complaints under SDO	305 (38%)	292 (40%)	-4%
Complaints under FSDO	33 (4%)	26 (4%)	-21%
Total:	797	733	-8%

Referring to the above table, a total of 733 complaints were received from January to November 2008, compared with 797 in the same period last year, representing a decrease of 8%.

Under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO), up until November this year, 292 complaints were received, a decrease of 4% over the same period in 2007, when 305 were received.
A decrease of 10% was recorded for complaints received under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO), 415 cases were received in the first eleven months of 2008, compared with 459 in the same period of last year.
Complaint cases received under the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO) totaled 26 cases so far this year, 33 cases were recorded in the same period last year, representing a decrease of 21%.
By respective Ordinance, 56% of the complaints were on the DDO, 40% were on SDO and 4% on FSDO.

Minutes of the 75th EOC meeting will be uploaded to the Commission's website at http://www.eoc.org.hk following Members' confirmation of its content at the next meeting on 19 March 2009.

Media Enquiries : Ms. Mariana LAW (Tel No. : 2106-2226)

Equal Opportunities Commission

18 December 2008