PH suspends deployment of househelp to UAE over policy barring contract verification

MANILA – The Philippines has decided to suspend the deployment of new hired household service workers (HSWs) to the United Arab Emirates, following the adoption of a new policy that bars foreign embassies from verifying the contracts of their nationals to guard against abuse.

Meantime, the Philippine government is seeking to hold consultations with the UAE in search of a “mutually acceptable solution” to address possible problems among new applicants.

According to Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose, the UAE’s new unified contract policy is against the Philippines’ domestic laws, which have always mandated the verification of contracts of HSWs to better protect them when they are deployed.

The contract verification helps prevent workers from falling prey to illegal recruiters or to human trafficking.

The DFA’s Jose stressed the Philippine government’s noncompromisable goal is to ensure the welfare of the Filipino domestic workers in UAE. “Any regulation or law implemented by a host government that can potentially affect the labor condition of our nationals overseas merits attention and action,” the DFA assistant secretary added.

“We wanted to have consultations with the UAE to find a mutually acceptable solution in this situation,” Jose said.

On June 1, the UAE implemented a new unified contract policy to protect, it said, the rights of both employers and the employees. But according to Jose, under this new policy, the foreign embassies in the UAE are no longer allowed to verify the contracts of their national domestic workers.

“The duty of our embassies there is to protect the welfare of our overseas Filipino workers. With the new policy there is no way for our embassy to protect the welfare of our household service workers,” he explained.

Due to the new policy, Manila has decided to suspend the deployment of new hired household service workers in UAE. “If our embassy could not protect our Filipinos there, then it’s best for the Philippines to postpone deploying our household service workers.”

Meanwhile, Jose said, the DFA continues to work with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) towards holding talks with relevant UAE authorities.

The Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi has also held several informal consultations with ambassadors from HSW-sending-countries regarding the implementation of the UAE unified labor contracts and its effects. “We are constantly monitoring the developments in the countries with high concentration of Filipino workers,” Jose said.

Earlier, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz announced the suspension of deployment of HSWs to UAE because of this new contract policy.

Baldoz said that only new hires from the Philippines will be affected by the temporary suspension, since their contracts cannot be processed without verification from labor offices and the DFA in the UAE.

Filipino maids already working in the UAE who wish to renew their contracts and those on vacation in their home country may continue to work with their employers as they are not affected by the new policy, Baldoz explained.

To signal their opposition to the new policy, some local recruitment agencies also stopped sending Filipino domestic workers to UAE starting July 1.

Manila adopted a similar tack when Saudi Arabia also suspended the contract verification for HSWs. But in that case, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia were soon able to reach an agreement.

Aside from the Filipinos, the Gulf News reported that other nationalities such as Bangladeshis, Indonesians and Sri Lankans have also stopped deploying HSWs to UAE.

Recruitment agencies in UAE are looking to tap the domestic labor markets of African countries like Kenya, the report stated. –Pots de Leon, InterAksyon.com