<![CDATA[UN migration agency, Hong Kong firm launch blockchain tool to prevent exploitation of domestic workers]>

The United Nations migration agency " or International Organisation for Migration (IOM) " and Hong Kong-based tech company Diginex are launching a tool using blockchain technology that will allow employment agencies to evaluate whether their hiring practices for domestic migrant workers meet ethical standards.

The tool, which is available for free online, will require employment agencies to volunteer information about how they recruit and place workers. It is part of the IOM's bid to prevent the exploitation of thousands of migrant domestic workers.

"We see ethical recruitment not only being a practice that can greatly reduce the number of migrant domestic workers who experience worst forms of exploitation, trafficking and modern slavery, but also benefit workers across the board who are vulnerable to exploitation," said Tara Dermott, head of the IOM's Hong Kong office.

"In that way, the more agencies that use this tool and learn how to improve their practices, the more workers that are recruited by these agencies will be protected."

According to Diginex, the use of blockchain technology " essentially a set of immutable, secure, data records " will strengthen data management and enforce data integrity, which allows for a higher level of transparency and visibility.

There are almost 390,000 migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, and about 98 per cent of them are women, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia.

According to a study conducted in the past two years, 56 per cent of foreign domestic workers in the city were charged illegal fees by recruitment agencies.

Although agencies in Hong Kong can only legally keep 10 per cent of a worker's first-month salary, research has shown that some charge more than 25 times that amount. Sometimes this happens in their home country as well as the nation in which they work.

The IOM screened and identified 84 victims of trafficking in Hong Kong " most of them female migrant domestic workers " from August 2017 to this November.

"If we look at the drivers of the worst forms of exploitation of migrant workers, we see debt bondage as being a major factor and that's due to fraudulent fees and excessive fees," Dermott said, noting that the withholding of documents was also a common problem.

"By practising ethical recruitment, this makes all the actors uphold high standards but also do due diligence on their partners. And we also see a role for employers to play," she said.

The new tool, called IRIS-SAFER, is available for the nearly 1,500 Hong Kong-based recruitment agencies as well as for agencies in sending countries, including Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

Last week, 23 agencies took part in the first training session held in Hong Kong.

"I see this as a game-changing tool and an opportunity for good actors to be recognised ... But, of course, it's a journey," Dermott said. "There are already agencies who are following good practices. But every time there is bad press, they feel they are all painted with the same brush. So this is an opportunity where they can demonstrate their commitment to ethical practices."

Mark Blick, head of government solutions at Diginex, said the tool was divided into three parts. In the first phase, agencies respond to a set of questions about their recruitment practices, while the second step includes the volunteer submission of documentation, which will be reviewed by the IOM.

Indonesian migrant workers praying at Victoria Park in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP alt=Indonesian migrant workers praying at Victoria Park in Hong Kong. Photo: AFP

The third phase is focused on "capacity building" and understanding where the IOM can use their expertise to help agencies that are interested in getting certified under the IRIS Standard, which is considered an international benchmark for ethical recruitment.

"The kind of vision we have is that it will be used not only by ourselves, IOM and recruitment agencies, but also consulates, government bodies or other organisations who are looking at accessing data around ethical recruitment ... Hopefully, it will be a global platform," Blick said.

Irene Leung, senior manager at the Technic Employment Service Centre and member of the Association of Hong Kong Manpower Agencies, was among those who joined the IRIS-SAFER training session last week.

"It is a useful and simple tool, like online auditing ... agencies can use it to assess how far they are from international standards and how they can improve," she said. But Leung noted that it would take years for the mentality as well as the practices of some agencies and customers to change.

Scott Stiles, co-founder and CEO of the Fair Employment Agency, said the tool was an "interesting part of the larger IRIS initiative", which has been designed to promote ethical recruitment globally.

"I have questions as to whether [the new tool] will provide accurate information, but there is no harm in trying. It will provide more information and help to understand the market. This is positive because in order for IRIS to be implemented, a lot of behaviour change has to happen at the agency level," Stiles said.

The Fair Employment Agency, which opened in September 2014, is one of a few ethical agencies that have emerged in recent years in Hong Kong. It has placed more than 3,900 Filipino domestic workers without charging them a fee.

"If IRIS Standards were broadly implemented, there would be many ethical agencies. This may not be good for Fair Employment Agency's placement numbers, because our ethics and values wouldn't be a differentiator," Stiles said. "But this is a problem we would love to have."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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