Country faces scrutiny on OFW rights

The United Nations’ Office of the High Commission on Human Rights will subject the Philippine government to “a higher level of scrutiny” when it comes to protecting the rights of migrant workers, after the Philippines claimed to be a global “model” among countries sending out workers overseas.

The UN Committee reviewed the Philippine report on protecting migrant workers’ rights at a meeting of its Committee on Migrant Workers in Geneva from April 23 to May 1.

In that meeting, the country’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Erlinda Basilio, said the Philippines has “one of the most developed overseas employment programs in the world,” and that it was recognized as a “model” for “migration management.”

Committee Expert Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka told the Philippine delegation that they would then have to expect a more intense scrutiny from the Committee.

The Committee also urged the government to review its labor migration policy to ensure that migrant workers’ human rights are protected.

The UN Committee noted “with concern” that although the government has taken steps to protect overseas foreign workers or OFWs, “abuse and exploitation continue, especially toward women migrants and that these are underreported.”

Heroes face abuse

OFWs are hailed as modern-day heroes for sending home billions of dollars in remittances that help the Philippine economy stay afloat. But OFWs suffer widespread abuses from the time they start applying for jobs abroad to the time they actually work and return home.

In its report to the UN Committee, Philippine government reported that as of December 2004, OFWs live and work in 194 countries and territories all over the globe. The figure includes 3.2 million permanent settlers, most of who can be found in the United States.

Saudi Arabia hosts some 1 million out of the 3.6 million OFWs. “Over the years, the volume of Filipinos leaving the country for temporary contract work is greater than those who leave to reside permanently abroad,” the Philippine report said.

The Philippine report also noted the increasing number of women making up the migrant workforce. In 2005, about 200,000 new hires were women, representing 72 percent of new recruits.

The non-government group Center for Migrant Advocacy puts the total number of Filipinos overseas at 8.7 million, 4.1 million of whom are temporary workers.

The Center, which was also represented at the meeting in Geneva, said that even though government denies promoting overseas employment, “every year, POEA targets to deploy one million migrant workers,” making the government a de facto promoter of overseas work. POEA is the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

“Since 2006, POEA has surpassed the 1 million target. In 2007, the POEA deployed 1,077,623, an increase of 1.42 percent from 2006 deployment figures. The number of migrants every year, for the last four decades, has been increasing, with rehires constituting more than 50 percent of the deployment,” the Center reported.

Purpose of meeting

The meeting was called to check the compliance of signatory-states to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The Philippines is one of 41 states that are signatories to the Convention.

Besides calling on both sending and receiving governments to protect migrant workers’ rights, the Convention also provides standards for the treatment and welfare of migrant workers, both documented and undocumented.

In its concluding observations at the end of the week-long meeting, the Committee noted positive measures the Philippine government has taken on migrant workers rights and its prioritization of overseas work as a domestic and foreign policy issue.

But the UN body also pointed out that it had yet to receive full reports on compliance and implementation of the International Convention on Migrant Workers’ Rights.

The Committee also said it “acknowledges that the geography of the thousands of islands in the State party makes it challenging to effectively monitor the movement of people and control borders to prevent irregular migration and to safeguard the rights of all migrant workers.”

The Committee also urged the government to “support a comprehensive study on the situation of children of migrant families,” and called for greater collaboration between government and non-government groups in migrant workers issues

Aside from the Philippines, the UN Committee also tackled the migration situation in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Colombia.

A delegation of 21 Philippine officials attended the meeting, seven of whom were based at the Philippine Mission to the UN in Geneva. Fourteen others flew from Manila to attend the meeting, including officials from the departments of Labor and Employment, Foreign Affairs, Social Welfare and Development, Interior and Local Government, and Justice.

In contrast, Azerbaijian and Boznia and Herzegovina sent delegations of 10 each, while Colombia sent only two. 

Editor’s note: VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look into current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.” –Luz Rimban, Vera Files, Manila Times