Kuwait agencies vow protection for Pinoy helpers

Amid the alarming number of foreign household helpers dying or being abused in Kuwait, the Philippine Embassy there has urged agency owners to step up efforts to ensure the safety and welfare of overseas Filipino workers in that Middle East country.

For their part, Kuwait agency owners have proposed an insurance package with comprehensive coverage for domestic helpers, the premium of which shall be paid by agencies.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Philippine Ambassador Shulan Primavera and Assistant Labor Attaché Ofelia Castro-Hudson met with Kuwait Agency Owners officers led by Abdul Aziz Al Ali on December 12.

The two-year proposed insurance package includes benefits for death due to any cause, partial or total disability, and for medical expenses due to accidents, as well as repatriation benefit in cases of death, or health problems or accidents when a worker is declared medically unfit to work.

Additional benefits in the package are a legal assistance hotline, and legal services for contract issues including abuse and unpaid salaries.

Primavera welcomed the proposal, which he described as a step of the Kuwait agencies to ensure the safety and protection of Filipino domestic helpers in Kuwait.

The agency owners meanwhile said they will submit a detailed proposal of the insurance package to the embassy.

Earlier, the DFA classified Kuwait as among the countries where the rights and welfare of migrant workers are protected.

Previous to the classification, however, two Filipina workers there were brutally murdered: one was tortured to death by her Kuwaiti employer, while the other was stabbed at least 31 times by her Egyptian husband. —With Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV