Almost 90 per cent of Hong Kong’s social workers think government-proposed changes to their licensing body would make it harder for them to speak out for marginalised communities, a survey has found.
Four veterans of the city’s social work industry announced results on Thursday of a survey on how the sector viewed the government’s proposed amendments to the Social Workers Registration Board, which is tasked with issuing qualifications for social workers.
The amendments – which authorities said were needed to address national security concerns – would give government-appointed members a majority on the board, instead of social workers elected by their peers under the current system.
In total, 89.9 per cent of respondents said they believed the changes would make it more difficult for social workers to help marginalised communities fight for their rights.
Almost 95 per cent said the amendments would undermine the autonomy of their profession. A similar percentage said the changes would also affect social workers’ ability to safeguard human rights and justice.
The questionnaire was answered by 3,168 respondents who were social workers, retired social workers and students studying social work. Among the social workers, over one-third had at least 10 years of experience in the industry. Responses were collected over one week in June.
“The survey shows that government’s amendments of the Social Workers Registration Board is not welcomed by social workers,” part-time social worker Eddie Tse said. “We also cannot clearly see how this would help us.”
Tse also criticised social welfare lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen, saying he had not attempted to understand social workers’ views. Last month, Tse led a petition outside the Legislative Council urging Tik to take responsibility and speak with social workers.
“We asked whether he would do a questionnaire or hold consultations like he did when he was running for the Legislative Council elections,” Tse said at the press conference in response to HKFP. “His colleagues said they would consider doing that.”
“As we were preparing this survey, we asked again… they said they would continue to consider,” he continued. “His office said he was already doing a widespread consultation, but what is that? We don’t know.”
HKFP has reached out to Tik for a response.
‘A political move’
Hong Kong in May began the legislative process to increase the proportion of government-appointed members in the Social Workers Registration Board, after Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun said on Facebook that changes were needed to “better protect national security.”
Authorities proposed giving government-appointed members – who do not have to be social workers – a majority on the board, therefore reducing the influence of members elected by their peers. Under the revision, the percentage of government-appointed members would increase from 40 per cent to more than 60 per cent.
Mok Hing-luen, a retired social worker with four decades of experience in the industry, said those representing the establishment may not be able to reflect social workers’ views.
Referring to Sun’s Facebook post in which he said people convicted of “serious crimes” had been allowed to renew their social work licences, Mok said the labour chief was really referring to national security offences.
“This amendment is a political move,” he said.
He said respondents’ concerns that the proposed changes would affect social workers’ profession were justified.
The government also proposed requiring all board members to take an oath affirming that they would uphold the Basic Law and bear allegiance to Hong Kong.
According to the survey, 86 per cent of respondents were opposed to the requirement. Almost 10 per cent said they had no comment, while 4.2 per cent said they supported the requirement.
“Swearing an oath is a political act… social workers are not civil servants,” Tse said.
“The government has always emphasised that professions should not be politicised. The law should not be politicised, they said… so isn’t this contradictory?”
‘Growing silent’
The survey, and the comments by the social work veterans, marked a rare rebuke of government policyin Hong Kong today, where remaining opposition parties are often quiet and civil society groups have disbanded citing concerns over the national security law.
“Actually, even before the amendment, when the [Beijing-imposed] national security law was passed in 2020… many people in the social work sector have gone from actively expressing their opinions to growing silent,” Mok said.
“The silence surrounding these proposed changes reflect the risks that exist,” he added. “This may be what the government wants to see, but it is not what should happen.”
Timothy Chen, another veteran social worker, said the group had been “very careful” in wording the questions in their survey.
The group added that while conducting the survey might not affect actual policy change, it at least allowed social workers to express their concerns anonymously.
The bill outlining the government’s proposals will be discussed by lawmakers on Wednesday. It is expected to be passed in Legislative Council, which lost all opposition after an electoral overhaul three years ago ensured only those deemed “patriots” can land a seat.
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