Ethnic minority care teams ready to serve next month

Eight care teams manned by people drawn from ethnic minorities and two support service centers dedicated to serving such communities will start operating next month, said Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki.

The care teams will reach out to ethnic minority households to understand their needs and better acquaint them with available public services, while the service centers will provide language and afterschool tutorial classes as well as programs to facilitate their integration into the community.

In a speech at a "Diversity List 2024" event organized by the charity The Zubin Foundation with global consulting firm Spencer Stuart, Chan said the policy address delivered in October provided more support for the communities to encourage them to succeed, thereby strengthening Hong Kong's economy.

"Hong Kong has long been a diverse, multicultural metropolis. More than 300,000 ethnic minority residents call the city home, making up more than 4 percent of our population," Chan said.

"Hong Kong's high degree of internationalization is one of our distinctive advantages. We also proudly celebrate the cultural traditions, as well as civic contributions, that our ethnic minority communities bring to the city. Their wide-ranging talent enriches us all," he added.

The government is also increasing support for non-Chinese-language-speaking students to help them learn and adjusting Chinese proficiency requirements for more than 30 civil service positions to increase employment opportunities for ethnic minorities, Chan said.

The racial diversity employment program has already provided services to more than 270 ethnic minorities and will continue to fulfill their demands to foster the social and economic development of the city, said Chan.

The Diversity List is to promote ethnic minority representation on government's advisory and statutory bodies. This year, 21 people - six men and 15 women - have been selected for consideration to help fill the government's advisory and statutory bodies.

They come from diverse backgrounds and include Indians, Nepalese, Africans, Filipinos, Malaysians, Sri Lankans, Eurasians and Pakistanis, and work in sectors like human resources, banking and legal services.

Since 2016, a total of 122 people were named on the list, and 33 of them were appointed to sit on advisory and statutory bodies.

Jeremy Young Chit-on from Spencer Stuart, who chairs an independent committee to select the individuals on the list, said: "The Diversity List continues to help the government navigate through the intricate mosaic of ever-evolving talent landscape, where diversity and inclusion increasingly form the bedrock of societal progress."

The founder and chief executive of the Zubin Foundation, Shalini Mahtani, said: "Their experiences as non-Chinese Hong Kong people can help to inform the government on internationalism. They are an underused asset."