Overseas workers abused<\/p>\n
One of the world's largest exporters of labor is calling for
\nmore international measures that would protect overseas workers.
\nJohanna Son of Inter Press Service reports.<\/p>\n
MANILA (IPS): Edwina endured her Singaporean employer's
\nbeatings and verbal abuse for two years, but finally fled when
\nMrs. Lee threatened to hit her with a hammer and poke chopsticks
\nin her eyes for failing to put fresh toilet paper in the
\nbathroom.<\/p>\n
Edwina also accidentally bumped her employer's husband,
\nenraging Mrs. Lee, who accused the Filipino maid of lusting after
\nher husband. \"So you want to be Mrs. Lee,\" fumed Edwina's boss.<\/p>\n
In Kuwait, Helen was gagged by her male boss, who then raped
\nher. After he left, she jumped from a fourth-floor window, but
\nwas later arrested by police and returned to the same employer.<\/p>\n
Edwina and Helen are among the 3.5 million Filipino workers
\noverseas, whom the Philipina government likes to hail as `modern
\nday heroes' for supporting 20 million family members at home and
\nfor bringing in hard currency.<\/p>\n
They are the Filipino nation scattered in 140 countries,
\nworking aboard tankers, as nurses in the United States, hotel
\nstaff in London, construction workers in Africa and the Marianas
\nand domestic helpers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Rome and the Gulf.<\/p>\n
But their success stories are often marred by instances of
\nFilipinos returning home unpaid, bruised black and blue or dead,
\nand their aghast countrymen have been railing at the government
\nto do more to protect them.<\/p>\n
In response, the government of President Fidel Ramos has
\noffered to host a global summit on labor migration to draw
\nattention to overseas workers' plight.<\/p>\n
During Pope John Paul II's January visit to Manila, Ramos
\nofficials also sought the Vatican's help in getting more nations
\nto sign the UN convention on the protection of the rights of all
\nmigrant workers and their families. More then 80 percent of
\nFilipinos are Roman Catholics.<\/p>\n
Activists and even officials say many, especially women and
\nthose who leave as tourists to work abroad illegally, are prone
\nto exploitation, physical abuse and even rape.<\/p>\n
Says Sen. Wigberto Tanada: \"Many endure squalid living
\nconditions, lascivious stage performances, forced prostitution,
\nroutine beatings and rape that literally strips them of every
\nshred of dignity.\"<\/p>\n
The social cost of women deployment is too high for the nation
\nto bear, \"Labor Secretary Nieves Confesor also said last year.
\n\"We are now feeling that social cost.<\/p>\n
Various Philippine governments have waged a constant battle to
\nlook out for Filipinos in place like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or
\nSingapore, where the bulk of reports of abuses ranging from
\nunpaid salaries to physical harm often come from.<\/p>\n
But national efforts to watch over millions of workers in many
\ncountries are clearly inadequate. Thus, the Ramos government is
\nnow trying to use diplomatic channels to raise awareness for the
\nplight of migrant workers from developing nations.<\/p>\n
The call for a global conference on labor migrants came on the
\nheels of the UN General Assembly's adoption of a Philippine-
\nsponsored resolution seeking better protection of such migrants.
\nThe Philippines--one of the world's major labor exporters --
\nhopes the United Nations would sponsor the summit<\/p>\n
\"This is really protecting the family, protecting migrant
\nworkers and labor in general,\" Ramos said, adding that migrants
\noften lack protection despite their sizable contribution to the
\ngrowth of labor-importing countries.<\/p>\n
But the Philippines is already facing an uphill battle to get
\nsignatures for the convention that allows labor-sending countries
\nto seek better terms for their nationals through international
\ninstead of bilateral mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Apart from the Philippines, only three countries -- Sri Lanka,
\nMorocco and Mexico-- have signed the accord. It takes effect only
\nafter 20 countries have ratified the agreement.<\/p>\n
The 1990 convention, recognizing that labor migrations is a
\nglobal phenomenon, states that no migrant worker or member of his
\nfamily should be subjected to\" cruel, inhuman or degrading
\ntreatment or punishment\", slavery or forced labor.<\/p>\n
It would also create an international Committee on the
\nProtection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers, which may not
\nsit too well with labor-sending nations that even now frown on
\ninking labor accords with countries like the Philippines.<\/p>\n
Indeed, at a regional conference in Manila last year to
\nprepare for the upcoming UN Social Development Summit in
\nCopenhagen, International Labor Organization (ILO) economist
\nPiyasiri Wickramasekera says delegates sought to exclude the
\nsubject altogether.<\/p>\n
\"One delegate from a South-east Asian country objected to a
\nprovision seeking international and bilateral agreements for the
\nprotection of migrant workers,\" says Piyasiri. \"He wanted it
\nreworded to read `consistent with the laws of the countries
\nconcerned'.\"<\/p>\n
Asian labor activists say while the first step is to figure
\nout how to control the flow of illegal workers, receiving
\ncountries must also work to handle the problem from their end.<\/p>\n
The problem is, experts say, host countries are often in
\ndenial over the increasing migration of workers. They add rich
\nAsian countries, which have become magnets for labor migrants
\nfrom neighboring poor nations, particularly seem to have
\ndifficulties facing the problem.<\/p>\n
Their generally aging populations combined with economic
\ngrowth have resulted in a labor shortage in Japan, Singapore,
\nHong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. Tiger economy aspirants
\nThailand and Malaysia have both emigration and immigration.<\/p>\n
But experts and policymakers in the region's labor-recruiting
\ncountries see migration only as a short-term response to a
\ntemporary recruitment situation so they can \"turn on labor flows
\nlike a tap, and then turn them off again if the workers are no
\nlonger needed\".<\/p>\n
As a result, nations like the Philippines end up feeling
\nhelpless as reports of abuses against their workers overseas pile
\nup.<\/p>\n
Recently, though, a Philippine Senate committee decided to try
\ncutting down the `casualty' numbers by classifying five
\ndestinations -- the Marianas Island, Malaysia, Kuwait, Iraq and
\nIran -- as dangerous and highly risky to Filipino labor, thereby
\ndiscouraging those thinking of working there.<\/p>\n
Many Filipinos in the Marianas have said they were forced into
\nprostitution after being promised jobs as waitresses. They
\ninclude Evangelinge, who was ordered to dance nude, sold to four
\nChamorro men, and soon became pregnant. \"I don't know who the
\nfather of this child is,\" she told Filipino officials.<\/p>\n
Media reports indicate Malaysia's case is rather different.
\nOfficials say it has to do more with what some of them term as
\n\"harassment\", although Manila has also become concerned over
\nreports of Filipino women being forced into prostitution there.<\/p>\n
Last year, Malaysian immigration officials conducted several
\nroundups of thousands of Filipino women workers, on suspicion
\nthat they were illegal or were \"ladies of the night\", sparking
\nprotests from Manila. Only a handful actually had invalid papers.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Manila is attempting to tighten the process
\nof overseas development, especially for women who make up about
\nhalf of the country's overseas workers. Many toil as
\ndomestics--Filipino maids number 120,000 in Hong Kong, 75.000 in
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
In November, Manila said it was aiming to whittle down the
\nnumber of overseas domestics in 10 years. But that is unlikely to
\nbe easy, as 650,000 Filipinos left for legal work abroad last
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Many defy government warnings. The deployment of maids to
\nKuwait is banned due to widespread abuses against Asian women,
\nbut is flouted by 10,000 Filipino women still working there.
\nThousands of maids have fled abusive bosses and have had to
\nrepatriated by the planeload.<\/p>\n
Singapore's Foreign Maids Employment Agencies Association,
\nhowever, has said it would stop hiring maids from the Philippines
\nafter Manila last year began requiring Singaporean recruitment
\nagencies to post a US$4,000 bond for every 50 domestic helpers.<\/p>\n
Manila said such a bond was to be held in escrow and used to
\nhelp mistreated maids.<\/p>\n
Confesor, though, says the government's best bet is to
\nregulate and document overseas deployment, because migration
\nsimply cannot be stopped. She observes: \"It is like goods -- once
\nyou restrict them, there will be smuggling and soon you will put
\nyour people in the hands of smugglers.\"<\/p>",
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