'Not just RP maids but women abused in Mideast'

MANILA, Philippines - While migrant workers, particularly Filipino domestic helpers, seem to be the most vocal in decrying the abuses of Jordanian employers, a migrants workers’ leader said women rights in general are not upheld in the Middle East. Hadeel Abdel Aziz, founding member of the Justice Center for Legal Aid, said employers in Jordan have yet to develop an understanding on how to treat women humanely. "A migrant worker is not singled out, it’s just that she is a woman and women in the Middle East are abused," Aziz told GMANews.TV in a recent interview. Although Jordan has been receptive to pressure from international organizations and media, Aziz said Jordan has much room for improvement to keep employers from abusing their maids. Aziz, who left the country recently after attending the Second Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila, gave the statement just as nine abused Filipino domestic helpers were repatriated by Senate President Manny Villar Jr on Friday. Among them was “Girlie," the real-life overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in the radio helpline advertisement who said: “Nagpapainit ako ng tubig para sa asawa (ng amo ko) at magkakape raw siya ng tea…hinila niya ang buhok ko at inilublob sa mainit na tubig." Although her words had elicited a few laughs, "Girlie" said her experience is far from being funny. At 17, "Girlie" has been through hell and back: She changed her age to 20 to be allowed entry to Jordan in November 2007; she was not paid her salary for three months; she jumped off the apartment building’s third floor to flee her employer’s rape attempt; she ran for her life; and was jailed by her employers. "Girlie" was supposed to come home in April with other distressed OFWs from Jordan but she was whisked away from the airport, brought to the jail and was “recaptured" by her employers where she endured several weeks of mental and emotional torture from her employer’s ‘jealous’ wife. Her experience, as well as hundreds of other Filipino domestic helpers who fled their abusive employers, have prompted the Philippine Labor department to place a temporary suspension of deployment to Jordan in January 2008. In 1990, the Philippines also imposed a deployment ban there owing to the high cases of maltreatment and exploitation committed by Jordanian employers. The government lifted the ban in 2005 with the opening of a Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Amman, Jordan’s capital, and the implementation of a “special work contract" which provides liberal welfare provisions to foreign household service workers. Undeterred Although the Philippine government might put stringent deployment bans on several countries, a recent study explained that one out of every two overseas Filipino workers in 2007 ignored reports of harsh working conditions abroad and still chose to work in the Middle East. A report by the National Statistics office (NSO) said that from April to September 2007, almost half or 46.8 percent of overseas workers were hired in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and other Middle East countries. Last year, 45.8 percent of the OFWs worked in the Middle East during the same period, according to the NSO. In August, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque partially eased the ban and allowed returning household service workers in Jordan. Newly-hired Filipino domestics, however, are still not allowed to enter the Middle East country. Change of heart ? Meanwhile, Jordan seemed to have heeded the calls from the United Nations and International Labor Organization by announcing that it would recognize foreign workers under its own labor laws. With this development, Salah Jaber, a lawyer of the Ta’amneh law firm in Jordan, explained that Filipino domestic workers will be entitled to a minimum wage pay of 150 Jordanian dinar, equivalent to P10,580. Aside from this, workers will be entitled to a maximum of eight hours per day working schedule and a day a week day off. However, Aziz said the laws might be set in place but without proper information dissemination, employers would stick to their culture of abuse against migrant women. "You can change the law but without proper awareness that will guarantee the implementation of these laws then it will not work," Aziz said. The kingdom of Jordan, which ironically is both a labor receiving and sending country, has been cited by Amnesty International –USA as a hotspot of abuse and exploitation of migrant domestic workers. According to the international human rights watchdog, tens of thousands of women migrant domestic workers in Jordan face isolation, exploitation and abuse, with little or no protection from the state. "Many workers report being violently treated at the hands of members of their employer’s household; they say they are slapped, kicked, beaten, spat at and threatened with violence," said the group in a statement on Friday. Jordan has some 40,000 registered women migrant domestic workers. Many come from South and South-East Asia, mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, said Amnesty International. According to Aziz, it is wrong to typecast all Middle East people as abusive toward women. In fact, she said, the Muslim religion adheres to respect and love for women. "Islam is all about protecting the weak," Aziz said,"If only they (Muslims) are implementing this, the abuses would not have been made." - GMANews.TV