Generally, the Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap.383) prohibits slavery and the slave trade in all their forms and also the holding of any person in servitude and forced or compulsory labour in Hong Kong (art.4).
Whilst Hong Kong does not have a consolidated legislation on modern slavery such as the English Modern Slavery Act 2015, various aspects of modern slavery are regulated by a number of local legislation, encompassing offences such as physical assault, false imprisonment, criminal intimidation, unlawful custody of personal valuables, child abduction and exploitation of children, illegal employment, trafficking in and control over persons for the purpose of prostitution, forcible taking or detention of persons with intent to sell him or her, etc. There is dedicated labour legislation to protect the rights of workers, including foreign domestic helpers, particularly in respect of withholding of wages, non-granting of rest days or statutory holidays. Any violation of the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) that is supported by sufficient evidence will be prosecuted by the Labour Department.
The code of conduct of employment agency promulgated under the Employment Agency Regulations (Cap.57A) is updated to combat forced labour, particularly foreign domestic helpers, by prohibiting employment agencies from any direct or indirect involvement in the financial affairs of job-seekers, including any advising, arranging, encouraging or forcing job-seekers to take out loans from any financial institutes or individuals and prohibiting employment agencies from assisting other persons or organization to collect fees for arranging foreign workers to come to HK. It is in particular prohibited to hold on the passport or personal identification document of a job-seeker in order to force payment or repayment by the job-seeker.
The Hong Kong government does not have any plan to extend the Palermo Protocol to Hong Kong due to concerns that there would be adverse implications to immigration controls and possible abuses by overstayers and illegal immigrants in view of the liberal visa regime and the unique circumstances of Hong Kong.
By the end of 2019, the Hong Kong government has fully implemented all initiatives under the Action Plan to Tackle Trafficking in Persons and to Enhance Protection of Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong.