“Insensitive advertising” of foreign domestic workers in Singapore: a violation of human dignity

• Main Author: ONG, Benjamin Joshua
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2018
• Subjects: Human Rights Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2853; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4811/viewcontent/Insensitive_Advertising__of_Foreign_Domestic_Workers_in_Singapore__A_Violation_of_Human_Dignity___OHRH.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower has suspended the licence of an employment agency for advertising the services of foreign domestic workers in an “insensitive” manner which portrayed the workers as a “commodity that can be bought and sold”. It also prosecuted the agency and the employee responsible for the advertisements; the employee has pleaded guilty. The Ministry’s actions are a welcome development in the evolution of the concept of a right to human dignity in Singapore law.