In Hong Kong, the ethnic minority community constitutes about 5% of its total population of 7.5 million.  The immigrant population is very diverse, and the most populous immigrant groups in Hong Kong are from India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.  Owing to the difference in the customs, cultural, historical and linguistic background of other racial groups, this multi-culturalism has sometimes raised issues of prejudices and stereotypes.

Hong Kong is obliged under the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination, and to guarantee that the rights will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to race or other status.

The protection of equality and non-discrimination in Hong Kong is enshrined in Article 25 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, Articles 1, 22 and 23 of the Bill of Rights Ordinance (Cap 383).  The Government enacted the Race Discrimination Ordinance (Cap 602) (‘RDO’) in July 2008, which has come into force since 10 July 2009, to protect people against discrimination, harassment, and vilification on the ground of their race.  The RDO is however limited in scope; it excludes the exercise of government functions and powers, for instance, and the term ‘ethnic minority’ as stipulated in the Ordinance only refers to non-Chinese minorities.