World Report 2011 - Human Rights Watch

WORLD REPORT 2011Sexual Orientation and Gender IdentityIn violation of international standards, Penal Code section 377A criminalizes sexualacts between consenting adult men. In September a defendant brought a constitutionalchallenge to the law on grounds that it is discriminatory.On May 15, 2010, the second annual Pink Dot festival, bringing together over4,000 LGBT individuals and their families and friends, took place at the government-establishedSpeaker’s Corner in Hong Lim Park.Migrant Domestic Workers and TraffickingSingapore continues to make improvements in working conditions for some196,000 foreign domestic workers through vigorous prosecution of employersand recruiters who physically abuse workers or fail to pay wages. However, itrefuses to include domestic workers under the Employment Act or to regulaterecruitment fees, which can run to 40 percent of the total salary a worker will earnduring a two-year contract. Instead, it preserves a sponsorship system that ties adomestic worker to a specific employer who, in turn, retains the right to cancelthe migrant worker’s contract, making her subject to immediate deportation.Unscrupulous employers often use the threat of contract cancellation to intimidateworkers to accept unlawful work conditions, restrict their movements, andprevent them from filing complaints.A government-mandated standard contract for migrant workers does not addressissues such as long work hours and poor living conditions. Instead of guaranteeingone day off per month and a set number of rest hours a day, it makes suchbreaks a matter of negotiation between employer and employee. It also fails toprovide protections against denial of annual or medical leave, requires immediatedeportation of pregnant workers, and stipulates that no foreign domestic workersmay marry a Singaporean.Human Rights DefendersTo actively defend human rights in Singapore is to risk being repeatedly fined,jailed, bankrupted, and forbidden from travel outside the country without govern-368