According to Kuwait suspends new visas for Philippines workers in rights row | The Star, the interior ministry revealed this week that Kuwait had put a permanent halt to all new visas for citizens of the Philippines, escalating a dispute with Manila over worker and employer rights between the oil-rich Gulf state and Manila.
According to government statistics, the 4.7 million people who call Kuwait home are made up of around 6% Filipinos. 32% are from Kuwait.
After the death of domestic worker Jullebee Ranara was discovered in the Kuwaiti desert in January, the Philippines ceased sending domestic workers there for the first time in February. This led to the suspension of visas.
Around 10% of the Philippine economy comes from remittances, which are sent home by the country's numerous people who work abroad. Many are employed as low-paid domestic workers in oil-rich Gulf nations like Kuwait, where visa laws bind employees to a single employer and leave them open to exploitation, including employers seizing their passports.
On Wednesday, the interior ministry claimed that the Philippines had broken the terms of a bilateral labor contract. Following a prior dispute over worker safeguards in the wake of many fatalities among domestic workers, the two nations concluded an agreement in 2018.
On the list of infractions are keeping employees in shelters, looking for runaways without informing government agencies, speaking with Kuwaiti people without authorization, and forcing Kuwaiti companies to incorporate terms in employment contracts.
The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs stated a week ago that the government and embassy's primary concern is the security and wellbeing of its own citizens.
According to international law and agreements, providing protection to a nation's nationals when they are overseas is a well-established obligation of consular posts, the statement stated. An inquiry for comment was not answered by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait.
