No ban on Filipino domestic helpers in Kuwait despite murders
Manila has no immediate plans to impose a ban on the employment of Filipino domestic helpers in Kuwait despite the brutal murders of two Filipinas in the northern Arabian Gulf country last month, embassy officials said.
“Until now, there have been no directives issued by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on placing a ban on Filipino domestic helpers in Kuwait,” Rea Oreta, the Philippine Vice Consul, said.
“A ban is not the only solution to the problem that Filipinos from several sectors have been facing in the country. We would like to reiterate that no discussions have been held in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila on the ban,” Oreta said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Kuwait Times.
Several human rights groups and individuals have reportedly been calling for a ban of deploying domestic helpers in Kuwait.
However, Oreta insisted that a ban was not the only solution and that there were other options available for the Philippine government before such a decision is made.
“I am sure that a ban will be the last option. Besides, even if the decision [to ban domestic helpers] is approved, Filipinos will still be able to enter Kuwait through other channels. So, I think the ban is not on the table right now as we believe it was not the only solution. It would probably be the last,” she said.
The two murder cases shocked the Filipino community and Kuwait.
In-mid July, 34-year-old Asria Samad Abdul, 34, a domestic helper, was allegedly tortured by her employers on a daily basis before being run over several times with a car to death in Kabd.
Norhaisa Nasa Andao, a 32-year-old Filipina employee at a beauty salon, was stabbed to death 31 times by her angry husband, an Egyptian national, in front of her horrified colleagues at her worksite in Jabriya.
The murder cases took place on the same day but at separate locations.
The suspects in both cases are now in police custody in Kuwait and their cases will be heard by the Court of First Instance will be heard after the final forensic reports and medical reports are ready.
