MANILA -- An organization of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) urged Monday President Benigno Aquino III to make a last-ditch request to Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah the need to provide protection to migrant workers.OFW POEA
In a statement, Migrante-Middle East (M-ME) regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said there is a stern need to bring the matter up with a ranking official of Kuwait given the frequency of such cases.
"Almost daily, we are receiving reports about abuses and labor malpractices coming from our fellow OFWs mostly domestic workers. There were also cases of mysterious deaths recorded last year and the previous years in Kuwait," Monterona said.
OFW POEA Work Abroad Echague Isabela
The labor leader said the meet between two t
op leaders of allied nations would serve as a good venue to bring up the matter especially concerning the estimated 400,000 OFWs in Kuwait, most of them employed as household service workers.
"We hope that President Aquino will grab this opportunity to discuss with his counterpart, the visiting Emir of Kuwait, to table and give priority discussing how to provide protection to our Filipino workers in Kuwait amid the rampant cases of abuse and labor malpractices especially among Filipino domestic workers," he said.
Structural Steel Detailing Batanes Islands
The M-ME official also said one of the best ways to address the matter is by ratifying the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Domestic Workers.
The ILO resolution provides principles and mechanisms that recognize domestic workers rights and provide them the needed protection while working overseas.
"The slave-like view about domestic workers in the Middle East must be changed, first and foremost. This is what the ILO Convention on Domestic Workers had told the host governments including that in the Mid-east that domestic workers have rights too, rights that governments must recognize, guarantee and protect," Monterona said.
Tuesday is the last of the five-day state visit of the Kuwait Amir in the Philippines.
Work in Singapore
Last Friday, Aquino and the Amir witnessed in Malacañang the signing of four agreements to strengthen the relations between the Philippines and Kuwait.
