PHL domestic helpers still endure abuses, exploitation despite laws –group
Despite being rich in pro-migrant worker laws and policies, the Philippines lacks oversight and implementing mechanisms for these laws to actually benefit domestic workers.
This conclusion was bared by Rothna Begum, women's rights researcher on the Middle East and North Africa, during Thursday's release of the 79-page report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the alleged abuses committed on foreign domestic helpers in the United Arab Emirates.
“Workers in the UAE have told me that they were still being abused and exploited despite such laws and policies, which indicates that there is much more going on if the Philippines’ laws and policies are not able to protect them,” said Begum, who interviewed 99 female domestic workers, recruitment agents and employers in the UAE for the HRW report titled “‘I Already Bought You’: Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates.”
“Even if we have all these provisions with the law, how can we make sure that these are complied with? Because when (OFWs) reach the destination country, how do you get into the houses of the employers will comply with these provisions?” said Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy.
HRW Philippine researcher Carlos Conde said none of the parameters for deployment of migrant workers are being followed in the Philippines as much as in the UAE.
“Receiving countries should be signatories to international instruments on protection of migrant workers and the UAE is not one of them, so why are we sending migrant domestic workers to the UAE?” asked Conde.
The Philippines has a number of provisions for the protection of migrant workers under Republic Act No. 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
Seminars
During the release of the report, pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOS) required for outgoing OFWs were criticized for their alleged inability to inform departing Filipino migrant workers of their rights abroad. Instead, they become avenues for various companies to promote and even sell their products and services.
"A lot of players are competing for time that are being allotted for the training. We're talking about banks, real estate agents being introduced during the PDOS training... That is where the government should step in," Conde said.
Begum said the seminars “are not providing (OFWs) the right sort of information about what they are expected to face in the UAE, nor are they getting enough awareness raising about what they are really facing in the UAE or other Gulf countries.”
Sana, meanwhile, criticized the contracts prescribed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and signed by departing domestic helpers in the Philippines. While ideal, she said their nullification by the contracts domestic helpers are made to sign upon their arrival in the UAE showed the need for greater policy monitoring.
‘Modern slavery’
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, who heads the House committee on overseas workers' affairs, said the Philippine government needs “a much larger and sustained focus on the conditions of labor.”
He alleged that “exploitation is the normal condition” in the Gulf states.
“Slavery was abolished in the 1950’s. Unfortunately, the whole legacy of slavery continues until today… We really have conditions of modern slavery in the Gulf states,” he said.
Bello also said that the HRW study has similarities with the 2011 congressional report on the condition of OFWs in Saudi Arabia.
Not just for domestic helpers
According to HRW’s report, there are 146,000 documented female migrant domestic workers in the UAE. Because 88.5 percent of its population is composed of migrants, measures taken by the UAE for their protection include revised standard contracts for domestic workers, draft law on domestic workers, and system changes to ‘kafala,’ among others.
However, these changes either have yet to be implemented, fall short of the protection afforded by the country’s labor law, or do not apply to domestic workers.
The draft law entitling domestic workers to paid leaves and sick days has yet to be ratified despite showing support for the 2011 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
Changes to “kafala” and contracts exclude domestic workers from the changes, preventing them from transferring to one employer to another before their contract is terminated in case of abuse or employer breach of contract.
UAE 'silent on the issue'
Despite proclaiming itself as an “open country” and joining the International Labor Organization, the UAE government has yet to respond to HRW’s calls for reform.
Their censorship also made the study difficult to complete, the HRW said.
“They have been silent on the issue. They are not willing to [talk] to us… When we did the research, we went in without informing the government because if we did, they would’ve monitored us,” said Begum.
“When we approach them afterwards, they do not want to speak with us. [But] we continue to want to engage with UAE authorities because frankly, they are the ones who can make the changes,” she added.
UAE was the second top OFW destination identified by the POEA in 2011. —KBK, GMA News
This conclusion was bared by Rothna Begum, women's rights researcher on the Middle East and North Africa, during Thursday's release of the 79-page report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the alleged abuses committed on foreign domestic helpers in the United Arab Emirates.
From L to R: Marina Sarno and Marelie Brua, former OFWs; Rothna Begum, Women's Rights researcher, Human Rights Watch; Ellene Sana, Exec. Dir., Center for Migrant Advocacy; Carlos Conde, Philippine researcher, Human Rights Watch; Rep. Walden Bello, House committee on overseas workers' affairs chairperson. Rie Takumi
“Even if we have all these provisions with the law, how can we make sure that these are complied with? Because when (OFWs) reach the destination country, how do you get into the houses of the employers will comply with these provisions?” said Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy.
HRW Philippine researcher Carlos Conde said none of the parameters for deployment of migrant workers are being followed in the Philippines as much as in the UAE.
“Receiving countries should be signatories to international instruments on protection of migrant workers and the UAE is not one of them, so why are we sending migrant domestic workers to the UAE?” asked Conde.
The Philippines has a number of provisions for the protection of migrant workers under Republic Act No. 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.
Seminars
During the release of the report, pre-departure orientation seminars (PDOS) required for outgoing OFWs were criticized for their alleged inability to inform departing Filipino migrant workers of their rights abroad. Instead, they become avenues for various companies to promote and even sell their products and services.
"A lot of players are competing for time that are being allotted for the training. We're talking about banks, real estate agents being introduced during the PDOS training... That is where the government should step in," Conde said.
Begum said the seminars “are not providing (OFWs) the right sort of information about what they are expected to face in the UAE, nor are they getting enough awareness raising about what they are really facing in the UAE or other Gulf countries.”
Sana, meanwhile, criticized the contracts prescribed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and signed by departing domestic helpers in the Philippines. While ideal, she said their nullification by the contracts domestic helpers are made to sign upon their arrival in the UAE showed the need for greater policy monitoring.
‘Modern slavery’
Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, who heads the House committee on overseas workers' affairs, said the Philippine government needs “a much larger and sustained focus on the conditions of labor.”
He alleged that “exploitation is the normal condition” in the Gulf states.
“Slavery was abolished in the 1950’s. Unfortunately, the whole legacy of slavery continues until today… We really have conditions of modern slavery in the Gulf states,” he said.
Bello also said that the HRW study has similarities with the 2011 congressional report on the condition of OFWs in Saudi Arabia.
Not just for domestic helpers
According to HRW’s report, there are 146,000 documented female migrant domestic workers in the UAE. Because 88.5 percent of its population is composed of migrants, measures taken by the UAE for their protection include revised standard contracts for domestic workers, draft law on domestic workers, and system changes to ‘kafala,’ among others.
However, these changes either have yet to be implemented, fall short of the protection afforded by the country’s labor law, or do not apply to domestic workers.
The draft law entitling domestic workers to paid leaves and sick days has yet to be ratified despite showing support for the 2011 International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 189 concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
Changes to “kafala” and contracts exclude domestic workers from the changes, preventing them from transferring to one employer to another before their contract is terminated in case of abuse or employer breach of contract.
UAE 'silent on the issue'
Despite proclaiming itself as an “open country” and joining the International Labor Organization, the UAE government has yet to respond to HRW’s calls for reform.
Their censorship also made the study difficult to complete, the HRW said.
“They have been silent on the issue. They are not willing to [talk] to us… When we did the research, we went in without informing the government because if we did, they would’ve monitored us,” said Begum.
“When we approach them afterwards, they do not want to speak with us. [But] we continue to want to engage with UAE authorities because frankly, they are the ones who can make the changes,” she added.
UAE was the second top OFW destination identified by the POEA in 2011. —KBK, GMA News
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