Filipino migrant workers illustrate a worldwide plight
They are called the country’s “new heroes,” and with good reason. Last year alone, Filipino migrant workers sent back $14.4 billion to support their families back home and supply a valuable boost to the country’s economy. According to the United Nations, there are currently 192 million migrants working outside their home countries. Of these, 8.2 million are from the Philippines.
With a per capita income of under $3,500 a year, the country remains heavily dependent on foreign remittances.
But while such a high percentage of its workers laboring abroad helps fill the nation’s coffers in the short term, it has also created a shortage of workers at home in such key fields as education and medicine.
And then there’s the question of the high price many of these migrants pay while working abroad, especially in the areas of discrimination and exploitation.
Many still remember the case of Flor Contemplacion, a domestic servant who was executed in Singapore in 1995 after being convicted of murder.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs is currently monitoring the cases of 29 Filipinos facing execution overseas: 11 in Malaysia, nine in Saudi Arabia, four in China, three in Kuwait, one in Brunei, and one in the United States.
The government is currently attempting to have the death sentence imposed in Kuwait on Filipino May Vecina commuted.
According to undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos Jr., Vecina was convicted of killing her employer’s youngest son in January 2007. Vecina alleged that she was driven to commit the crime after being physically and mentally abused by her employer.
The emir of Kuwait has so far failed to respond to two letters from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asking that the sentence be commuted.
But protecting its citizens working overseas from criminal prosecutions is only one aspect of the government’s concerns. Later this year, the Philippines will host the second United Nations global forum on migration and development. The government is hoping to use that venue to lead an international discussion on the need to respect and protect the rights and interests of migrant workers.
So far, only 36 countries have ratified the U.N. convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families, which seeks to protect migrant workers and their families from exploitation and the violation of their human rights. Not a single Western or Gulf state has so far ratified the convention.
Yet, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Middle Eastern nations host nearly 60 percent of Filipinos working abroad. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar have the largest populations of Filipino migrants. These migrant workers are commonly employed as domestic help, factory and construction workers, jobs that often make them easy targets for abuse.
“If these countries really recognize the value of Filipino migrant workers, they should ratify and ensure the protection of our citizens,” said Purificacion Quisumbing, the former chairwoman of the Commission of Human Rights.
Sophia Ann Torres is a reporter in the Philippines who writes for The Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project, a project of The Institute for War & Peace Reporting. © 2008, The Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
Related Posts
