Members of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) met on 18 March 2010 (Thursday) at the 84th EOC Meeting and discussed various matters related to the Commission’s business including the following:

For the purpose of further enhancing EOC’s transparency and promoting EOC’s work, Commission Members recommended that from the next round of meetings onward, press briefings should be held immediately after all EOC meetings, and the Community Participation and Publicity Committee and Policy and Research Committee meetings as necessary. Members also recommended holding a special annual meeting of the EOC to review the Commission’s work in the past year and work priorities for the coming year. This special meeting will be open to the public and the media. The first one will be held in July this year.

 

Members discussed the Draft Formal Investigation Report on Accessibility in Publicly Accessible Premises and made a number of suggestions. The Report surveyed whether improvements had been made to accessibility by persons with disabilities to 60 selected public premises. The Report also made recommendations calling for substantial Government efforts to improve the present unsatisfactory situation. The Commission aimed to release the Report in May this year.

 

Members noted the change in the mandate to the revised Policy and Research Committee (previously Public Education and Research Committee) and endorsed the direction that the Commission should adopt an active advocacy role, and to build active partnerships with stakeholders through public engagement.

 

Members discussed the Minimum Wage Bill and its possible impact on workers with disabilities. Members are of the view that as a matter of principle, minimum wage protection should be extended to employees with disabilities. However, the Commission will not object to the proposal whereby employees with disabilities, on a voluntary basis, may opt to undergo a fair work assessment mechanism for wage assessment purpose. The Commission welcomes the introduction of the Minimum Wage Bill and hopes that it will be implemented as soon as possible.

 

Members noted the EOC’s submission to the Government in respect of HKSAR’s Report under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The submission outlined EOC’s work for persons with disabilities in the past years, and made observations on areas where major improvements are needed. They include : a broader and up-to-international- standard definition for “disability” is needed to standardize and upgrade various government services; major improvements needed for access to public premises including voting booths; and a more holistic approach to policies on disabilities especially on mental health care.

 

For the purpose of strengthening internal control and management procedures, the EOC engaged an external audit firm to examine the procedures and practices of the internal functioning of the EOC. Members noted that all the recommendations from Report No. 52 of the Director of Audit and Report of the Public Accounts Committee had been duly implemented by the EOC. Members agreed to refer the Report on Compliance and Management Study submitted by the external auditor for further study by the Administration and Finance Committee.

 

Members reviewed the work of the EOC in 2009 and took note of the Commission’s thematic work plan for 2010/11. 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.

 

Below are the EOC’s complaint statistics for the last calendar year, extracted from the Report on Review of EOC’s Work in 2009.

 

 

 

The increase mainly comes from :

 

 

 

The increase mainly comes from :

 

 

 

In addition to formal complaints, the Commission also handled 20,853 enquiries in 2009, an increase of 13% compared to the 18,493 enquiries received in 2008.

 

 

Media enquiries: Ms. Mariana LAW (Tel : 2106-2226)

 

 

18 March 2010

Equal Opportunities Commission