The Effectiveness of the "WE Stand" Programme for Female Migrant Workers and Ethnic Minority Women: A Research Report 《「凝‧動」外籍傭工及少數族裔婦女計劃服務成效：研究報告》
In Hong Kong, there are 320,988 migrant workers (MW) and 451,183 people of ethnic minority origin (EM). Many researchers have pointed out the prevalence and seriousness of the problem of sexual harassment and sexual assault towards MWs, which often remains unreported by the victims to the police. Although little work has been done to understand the sexual violence experiences of EM women in Hong Kong, the trauma and negative impact on mental health that sexual violence can cause is well-documented.
In view of the seriousness of the problem, and the lack of specialized rape crisis services in Hong Kong (particularly one that is catered toward working with MWs and EW women), RainLily started a project entitled "WE Stand Programme for Female Migrant Workers and Ethnic Minority Women" to support survivors of sexual violence from 1 February 2012.
This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the WE Stand programme services, so as to understand its strengths, and through the feedback from service users and frontline workers, to arrive at recommendations for service improvement. This study focuses on two components of the programme, namely, "24 hour one-stop crisis intervention and counselling" and "educational workshops". The voices of service users and RainLily's social workers were included in the study.
The findings of the study show that survivors are likely to face a range of problems after being sexually assaulted, such as emotional problems, financial problems, relationship problems, decision making in pregnancy, and problems encountered in the police reporting procedure. The WE Stand programme provides survivors with accompaniment services, legal support, tangible support, interpretation, and referral to other support services such as emergency shelters and psychiatric treatment. The services received positive feedback from the respondents. Respondents showed positive changes after the intervention.
From the perspective of RainLily's social workers, emotional support/counselling, accompaniment and tangible support were the common needs of sexual assault survivors. They generally agreed that their intervention was meaningful in that it brought about positive changes in service users, and was welcomed by the police. However, the social workers encountered some difficulties in working with MW and EM survivors, including cultural and religious differences, issues with interpretation service, inconsistencies and lengthy procedures in police reporting.
The Effectiveness of the "WE Stand Programme for Female Migrant Workers and Ethnic Minority Women": A Research Report 5 The WE Stand programme's educational workshops aim to increase participants' knowledge about sexual violence, clarify rape myths, and increase participants' sense self-efficacy and confidence in taking action to protect themselves. The respondents of this study reported that the workshops met their expectations. In three focus group interviews, MWs, EM women and girls gave positive feedback about the programme. After attending the workshops, their level of awareness and knowledge of the sexual violence had increased, and they had gained more gender awareness and self-confidence. However, they suggested having more sessions in which to practice and consolidate what they have learnt in the workshops.
From the perspective of the RainLily workers, EMs and MWs possessed very little prior knowledge about sexual violence and victims' rights. The need for gender sensitivity and cultural sensitivity while providing intervention was also emphasised. The RainLily workers also expressed that they encountered some difficulties in working with this target group, for example, the lack of formal protocol or guidelines for intervention, inadequate support from migrant worker employment agencies, long working hours of MWs, and family responsibilities of EM women.
The following recommendations are made to the WE Stand Programme for the future development of services: 1) To develop a peer counsellor programme, 2) To provide training to interpreters and other professionals, 3) To suggest improvements in police handling procedures, 4) To provide in-service training for RainLily workers, 5) To promote sex education in schools and in the public, 6) To advocate for policy change and 7) To strengthen service coordination.
香港至今約有320,988名外籍家庭傭工(外傭)及451,183名少數族裔人士。不少研究指出，外傭及少數族裔面對嚴重的性騷擾及性侵犯後鮮有舉報。雖然針對少數族裔面對性暴力的研究不多，但有不少紀錄證明性暴力對倖存者的精神健康造成的負面影響。
基於上述問題的嚴重性，以及本港欠缺對外傭及少數族裔女性的強暴危機處理專責服務，故風雨蘭於2012年2月1日起開展一項名為「凝‧動」外籍傭工及少數族裔婦女計劃(簡稱「凝‧動」計劃)，為外傭及少數族裔的性暴力倖存者提供支援。
是項研究的目的旨在評估 「凝‧動」計劃的服務成效及強項。此研究主要針對 「24小時一站式危機介入及輔導服務」及「教育工作坊」兩部份。服務使用者及風雨蘭社工的意見亦歸納在內。透過服務使用者及前線工作人員的對服務的意見和評價，提出改善服務的建議。
研究發現，性暴力倖存者受到性侵犯後均面對各種問題，包括情緒、財政、關係建立、懷孕決定，以及報案時受到不公平對待等問題。「凝‧動」計劃為倖存者提供外展陪同、法律支援、實物支援及翻譯服務，亦包括緊急庇護服務及心理治療等轉介服務。這些支援均得到受訪者的正面評價，認為有關的服務為他們帶來正面的改變。
風雨蘭的社工認為，情緒支援/輔導、外展陪同及實物支援都是性暴力倖存者的共同需要。他們相信介入工作是有意義的，能為服務對象帶來正面的轉變，同時他們的服務亦得到警方支持。然而，社工們為倖存者提供服務時遇到不少困難，包括文化及宗教上的差異、語言翻譯的誤差、警方處理個案時的非貫徹性手法和冗長的報案程序等。
至於「凝‧動」計劃的教育工作坊，此項服務旨在增加參加者對性暴力的知識、釐清強暴的迷思、增加參加者反性暴力及自我保護的信心。受訪者表示工作坊符合他們的期望。三個焦點小組訪談的資料顯示，受訪者對工作坊均有正面評價，認為參加工作坊後，她們對性暴力的認知、性別意識及自信心均有所提升。不過，她們期望可增加工作坊的節數，以實習及鞏固她們所學的知識。
風雨蘭社工亦指出，外傭及少數族裔女性普遍欠缺性暴力及倖存者權益的知識，因此，社工需要提升她們的性別及文化意識，而當中並遇到不少困難，包括欠缺有系統的介入程序指引、外傭中介公司支援不足、外傭的長工時及少數族裔婦女的家庭責任等。
是次研究提出以下的建議：1) 發展朋輩輔導計劃; 2) 為翻譯員及其他外傭/少數族裔機構提供培訓服務; 3) 建議警方改善處理個案的程序; 4)為風雨蘭社工提供在職培訓，提高他們對少數族裔女性的認識; 5) 在學校及社區推行全面性教育; 6) 加強政策倡議的工作; 7) 加強「凝‧動」計劃及其他外傭及少數族裔機構間的聯繫。