A total ban on deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait has been imposed by the Philippines Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

On Wednesday, 15 January, the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) announced that a resolution had been signed for the total ban on deployment of Filipinos to Kuwait in response to the brutal murder of Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Jeanelyn Villavende by her Kuwaiti employer.

The deployment ban was recommended by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) autopsy report showed that Ms. Villavende had been repeatedly tortured and subject to sexual abusement while working for her employers in Kuwait.

The deployment ban would cover all “newly-hired domestic workers or household service workers, semi-skilled workers, skilled workers and professionals, including crew changes and shore leaves of Filipino seafarers,” in Kuwait.

Speaking to the media, POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said that starting 16 January, the agency will no longer release Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC) to those covered by the ban. However, applicants who were able to secure their OEC on or before January 15 will still be allowed to fly to Kuwait. The POEA also clarified that Filipinos already working in Kuwait may stay to finish their contracts.

POEA had in early January imposed a partial deployment ban, which covered newly-hired household service workers.

An embalming certificate from the Kuwait government has confirmed that Villavende, who was reportedly beaten “black and blue”, died of “acute failure of heart and respiration” as a result of shock and multiple injuries in the vascular nervous system. However, a separate autopsy by NBI showed that Villavende’s brain, heart, and some internal organs were missing; and that she also suffered multiple, severe traumatic injuries including genitalia injuries that indicated she had been sexually abused.

Responding to the total deployment ban, Kuwait’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Ambassador Samie Al-Hamad voiced Kuwait’s dismay at the Philippine government’s decision. The move by the Philippines came despite the legal action taken by concerned Kuwaiti authorities in the aftermath of the killing of a Filipino in Kuwait, Al-Hamad said in a press statement.

“As we express our extreme sorrow at this appalling crime, which is uncommon in the Kuwaiti society and even against our Islamic values, the legal action was taken against the culprits, including arresting them and filing a case with the Public Prosecution. This reflects Kuwait’s keenness on applying the law and ensuring justice to guarantee the safety and protection of all those living on its soil, and that’s why it is a favorable destination for people of different nationalities, including Filipinos who are nearly a quarter-million workers in number,” he said.

Al-Hamad queried as to why the Philippine officials are handling this case through mass media, rather than official methods, consultations and meetings. The Kuwaiti official said that such meetings are the optimum way to address the problems of workers, revamp agreements and assess measures taken, thus averting any decisions or stances that could undermine bilateral relations.

Domestic labor offices have been witnessing very few applications for household workers, following the decision by the Philippines to deploy a partial ban on new household workers coming to Kuwait. This could be aggravated with the decision to introduce a total ban, said the Head of the Kuwaiti Federation of Owners of Domestic Labor Offices, Khaled Al-Dakhnan.

He said that 85 percent of the domestic labor offices have been empty of applications for weeks since the partial ban came into effect, following the murder of a Filipina household worker at the hands of her Kuwaiti employer. He added that the offices are in real crisis and could end up with many having to close down if the deployment ban exceeds two months

At the monthly union meeting of the office owners, Al- Dukhnan hoped the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs would move quickly to resolve the current crisis through dialogue with relevant authorities in the Philippines. He pointed out that the crisis currently being witnessed in the sector is the result of Kuwait’s reliance on one main country for the recruitment of its workers, which is the Philippines. He pointed out that the union has requested time and time again to open new countries and diversify the sources of recruitment to no avail.

For his part, Vice-President of the Kuwaiti Federation of Owners of Domestic Labor Offices Abdullah Al-Azmi said the Filipino domestic worker incident is just an accident that cannot be generalized, especially as domestic workers in Kuwait enjoy all their rights and live in security and safety. He called for revamping the sponsor system as it had become ineffective.

He noted that the solution is to operate a system where households ‘hire’ domestic helpers from offices that recruit the workers and sponsor them. He explained that a citizen will be able to ‘hire’ workers based on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, in accordance with the employer’s compatibility with the worker.

Speaking on the ongoing situation with the Philippines, Kuwait’s Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of State for Economic Affairs Maryam Al-Aqeel said that Kuwait needs to recruit domestic workers from several markets, not just the Philippines.

She added that the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) is coordinating with certain entities in the country and abroad to facilitate the recruitment of domestic workers from several countries to avoid the possibility of any shortage of domestic workers in Kuwait.

The number of domestic male and female workers in the country is estimated at about 730,000, she said, pointing out that there are very few complaints regarding this category in relation to the large number. Revealing that 2805 grievances were registered last year, she said that most of them were resolved cordially and that only 704 complaints were referred to judiciary, stressing Kuwait’s keenness on maintaining and protecting the rights of domestic workers in the country.

 

 

 


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