The Philippine Consulate in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) believes that domestic workers should not be forced to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a requirement for the renewal of their employment contracts.
The Consulate is now coordinating with the Hong Kong government following its recent announcement of its plan to require all 370,000 domestic workers to be vaccinated before their contracts can be renewed.
"My consulate has been supportive of Hong Kong’s free and voluntary vaccination programme and has actively campaigned for this. However, our nationals need not be forced to take the vaccine since I believe that they are capable of doing the right thing," Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Raly Tejada said in a report from the South China Morning Post.
He added that if vaccination becomes a requirement for work in the city, then it should apply to all foreign workers so that it will be "non-discriminatory".
"If vaccination becomes a provision to work in Hong Kong, then its application should be non-discriminatory and therefore must not only include , but other non-resident workers who are similarly situated so that there is no feeling of being singled out," the top diplomat said.
Tejada also said his office was not “directly consulted” on the new measures.
“It would have been better if concerned consulates like the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries were consulted on this matter as it involves the substantive rights of our nationals,” he added.
Hong Kong authorities had earlier ordered all domestic workers in the city to undergo testing before May 9.
The mandatory testing came after two domestic workers from the Philippines were found to be infected with mutated strains of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) virus.
Health Minister Sophia Chan Siu-chee defended the mandatory testing, calling it a “prudent” measure.
"The reason we are testing foreign domestic workers is, first of all, this is the second domestic worker we have identified that has the new variant in Hong Kong,” Chan said in the SCMP report.
“According to some contact-tracing information, there was some mingling of the different domestic workers together," she added.
Hong Kong labor secretary Law Chi-kwong, meanwhile, said the plan to make the vaccination a work visa requirement was not too much to ask.
"Of course, they can choose not to work in Hong Kong as they are not Hong Kong residents," Law said.
Hong Kong migrant worker groups on Saturday hit the new measures, labeling the move "discriminatory and unjust".
"This is clearly an act of discrimination and stigmatization against migrant domestic workers," Dolores Balladares Pelaez, chair of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, told AFP.
"Again, we are being singled out and targeted."