Philippines awaits details from Kuwait over suspension of new entry visas for Filipinos

Manila signed a labour agreement in 2018 to regulate domestic workers

Filipina workers return from Kuwait to Manila International Airport. AFP

The Philippines has said it will continue to ensure the welfare and safety of its workers abroad after Kuwait stopped issuing new entry visas for citizens of the South-East Asian country.

Interior Ministry sources told the Kuwait Times the Gulf state suspended all types of work and entry visas for Filipinos on Tuesday after the Philippines allegedly breached a bilateral labour agreement.

However, the Kuwaiti government has not announced the decision publicly.

Kuwait and the Philippines signed a labour agreement to regulate domestic workers in 2018, when a dispute between the two countries led to a ban on Filipino workers in the Middle Eastern country after the murder of a domestic worker.

“We shall continue to pursue the track of labour diplomacy in ensuring the welfare and safety of our overseas Filipino workers, while we await more details as to the rationale and issues surrounding the action of the Kuwaiti government,” the Philippines Department of Migrant Affairs said in a statement released on Friday.

The department said it was ready to assist those affected by the Kuwaiti decision, about which it was awaiting more details.

The murder of a 35-year old Filipina maid by a Kuwaiti teenager earlier this year forced the Philippines to review its labour agreement with Kuwait.

In response to the incident this year, the Philippines in February prevented first-time workers, especially domestic helpers, from being sent to Kuwait.

The latest disagreement between the two countries comes five years after the murder of Joanna Daniela Demafelis, a Filipina domestic worker whose body was found in a freezer after she was killed by her employers. It caused a diplomatic rift and led former president Rodrigo Duterte to impose a temporary ban on workers from the Philippines moving to the Gulf country.

The Philippines Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has documented 196 deaths of Filipino workers in Kuwait since 2016. More than 6,000 cases of abuse, sexual harassment and rape have been filed with the Filipino embassy since 2017.