Philippines has concerns about trafficking in UAE

ABU DHABI // The Philippines is trying to stop women travelling to the UAE to work as maids after the Ministry of Labour removed the need to have domestic workers' contracts ratified by their embassies.
The Philippine labour secretary, Rosalinda Baldoz, said the government would not process contracts of Filipinos wishing to become household workers in the Emirates.
The country has strict controls and rules to oversee the movement of its expatriate workers. Its Overseas Employment Administration (Poea) will stop processing UAE contracts for maids, nannies, cooks, family drivers and gardeners, most of whom are women.
"I have further directed Poea to advise licensed recruitment agencies to explore markets for household service workers other than the UAE, even as I strongly warn illegal recruiters against deploying household service workers to UAE," Ms Baldoz said.
The Philippines imposes strict requirements for UAE employers.
Ms Baldoz said the move was similar to Poea's actions in 2011 when Saudi Arabia suspended the contract verification of domestic staff after a wage disagreement.
The Philippine overseas labour offices in Dubai stopped verifying contracts in the first week of this month after a new standard contract for domestic staff produced by the Ministry of Interior took effect on June 1.
The Ministry of Labour issued a circular on May 26 instructing recruitment agencies in the UAE to rely on the standard contract, removing the need to have domestic workers' contracts ratified by embassies of their countries of origin, a source said.
The agencies were also instructed not to require or compel employers who wish to hire household workers to deal with embassies when signing contracts, the source said.
"I am concerned that without the requisite verification, household workers who will travel to the UAE will fall vulnerable to human trafficking, which we must avoid at all cost," Ms Baldoz said.
The Philippine missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are responsible for verifying documents, including employment contracts that satisfy Philippine requirements.
Verification has been in place under Philippine laws on overseas employment, and it is applied for all countries of destination, including the UAE, Ms Baldoz said.
In December 2006, a reform package from Poea required household staff to be paid a minimum monthly wage of US$400 (Dh1,469), be at least 23 years old and not be required to pay placement fees.
"The $400 minimum wage is a very contentious issue in Abu Dhabi," Angel Borja, the labour attache in Abu Dhabi, said in July last year.
"What we are trying to enforce here is a guiding rate."
Poea said it would work closely with the Bureau of Immigration and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to ensure those who intended to work in the UAE did not fall victim to human trafficking.
The government agencies will strictly screen Filipinos heading for the UAE on visit visas.
She said she was "confident that the UAE and the Philippines will arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement on the employment of household service workers, similar to what has been concluded between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia".
The countries signed an agreement in May last year to provide more rights and better protect migrant domestic workers.
They agreed on a standard employment contract and a $400 minimum monthly salary was set, as were rest days and paid holidays.
"The UAE has expressed interest to negotiate with the Philippines on this matter and we are glad to do so," Ms Baldoz said.
Recruitment agencies in the Philippines will now have to wait to see how the negotiations will fare, said Emmanuel Geslani, an overseas recruitment expert in Manila.
"The UAE's decision to suspend the verification of contracts has translated to a loss in their business but they can always explore the Saudi and Qatar markets," Mr Geslani said.
rruiz@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

New UK refugee system

A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds

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Philippines has concerns about trafficking in UAE

The Philippines has stopped processing contracts of its nationals who wish to work as domestic staff in the UAE, its labour secretary says.

New UK refugee system

Desert Warrior