Patricia Ho Recognised in Trafficking in Persons Report 2020

Congratulations to Patricia Ho who was recognised by the United States Department of State as one of ten 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes from around the world.  In the award ceremony, Patricia was awarded the honour, 

'In recognition of her dynamic leadership in defending the rights of human trafficking victims and marginalized groups by challenging government policies and laws and her relentless work to promote the better treatment of victims through elevation of survivor voices and a trauma-informed approach'.

  Patricia has been advocating for the rights of persons from margialised groups through her work as a public law solicitor and founder of the non-governmental organisation, Hong Kong Dignity Institute. In the Faculty of Law, Patricia is a principal lecturer who teaches in the Clinical Education Programme (both General and Refugee Streams) and Administrative Law in the LLB programme.  HKU law students gain valuable knowledge and experience in working with Patricia who has been instrumental in bringing important human rights issues before the Hong Kong courts.

Po Jen Yap and Kenneth Lee (JD) on Human Trafficking and Judicial "Divination" in Hong Kong (HKLJ)

"Human Trafficking and Judicial "Divination" in Hong Kong"
Po Jen Yap and Kenneth Lee (JD)
Hong Kong Law Journal, Volume 48, Part 3, pp. 807-818
published in December 2018

Abstract: The Court of Appeal’s (CA) recent ruling in ZN v Secretary for Justice on human trafficking is problematic for three reasons. First, it read too much into the People’s Republic of China’s choice not to apply the Palermo Protocol to Hong Kong. Second, the CA’s striking preference for the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s General Comments over the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence contradicts a long line of the Court of Final Appeal case law. Finally, the CA’s ruling that the errant employer’s abusive conduct towards ZN constituted forced labour, in contravention of art 4(3) of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, is extraordinary because s 7 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap 383) (BORO) explicitly provides that the BORO does not apply to conduct between private individuals. While deeming it unnecessary for the Hong Kong legislature to enact a specific law on forced labour, the CA ironically established a new common law offence of forced labour under Hong Kong law.

New Issue of Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law - Special Section on Viet Nam

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE LAW

Editors-in-Chief: Simon NM Young and Kelley Loper

Publisher: Brill, Leiden

2016, Vol. 17, Issue 1

Special Section on Viet Nam

Introduction 1
Rhona K.M. Smith

The Impact of the Rule of Law on Protection of Human Rights in Viet Nam 11
Do Minh Khoi 

Enhancing Mechanism for Protection of Constitutional Rights in Viet Nam Today: The Case of the Right to Environment 28
Van Nghia Hoang

Business and Human Rights in Viet Nam: The Human Rights Implication of Involuntary Resettlements for Hydro Power Dams 42
Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai

The Suspect’s Right to Silence in Viet Nam 54
Lam Tien Dung

The Rights of Victims in Viet Nam 70
Dinh Thi Mai

Rights of Child Victims and Child Witnesses in Criminal Justice in Viet Nam 88
Le Thi Nga 

The Process of Viet Nam’s Preparation of the National Report under the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review 102
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan 

Articles

Juvenile (In)justice: Children in Conflict with the Law in Indonesia 119
Sharyn Graham Davies and Jasmin Robson 

Human Trafficking and China: Challenges of Domestic Criminalisation and Interpretation 148
Bonny Ling

Puja Kapai Interviewed on Human Trafficking Victims in Hong Kong (SCMP)

"Hong Kong does not need laws against human trafficking, says government: victims are routinely criminalised, says Bar Association"

Raquel Carvalho
South China Morning Post
12 June 2016

The government has dismissed the need to introduce an anti-trafficking law and said such crime is not common in the city, even though legal experts say victims are criminalised instead of being protected and the issue is affecting Hong Kong’s international image.

     Despite critical reports which describe Hong Kong as a destination, transit point and source of human trafficking and point out serious flaws in the government’s approach, a spokeswoman for the Security Bureau said that the occurrence of human trafficking in the city was “rare”. The bureau noted that “solid and proven” legal frameworks were already in place.

      Enhanced measures were introduced in the past year, “in particular regarding victim identification and referral, and in the protection of foreign domestic helpers,” a spokeswoman said in a written response.

     Police and the Immigration Department are also planning to revise in the coming months “their victim identification guidelines ,” the spokeswoman noted, without elaborating on the details of the review.

      International groups as well as local legal experts and NGO workers have urged the government to improve protection for victims and introduce an anti-trafficking law.

...

      “Victims of human trafficking face an adversarial legal system through and through,” Puja Kapai, associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said, noting that the number of identified victims underestimated the extent of the problem.

     “In general, there’s no balance of power – from immigration procedures, language barriers to a lack of sympathy from frontline law enforcement officers inclined to use aggressive tactics to have victims admit transgressions,” the High Court barrister said.

      The legal expert has no doubt that the prevalence of labour trafficking in Hong Kong is an issue that is affecting the city’s international image... Click here to read the full article.