Tonyang
08-07-2006, 10:34 PM
Fellow Compatriots!
For Filipino maids in Japan, items 1 and 4 are really impossible. Can our joint forces make a miracle to make all the items below realized in Japan? The Philippine embassy in Japan might be the first entity to say NO. Hope not.
The data that we have could provide a profile of domestic workers in Japan at:
http://www.tpmovers.org/domestic_workers_jap an.htm
We have to do something now or the innocent victims or victims-to-be are not conscious of what is happening now or won't care forever.
Tonyang
www.tpmovers.org (http://www.tpmovers.org)
On 8/7/06, Virginia Pasalo <ofw_remit@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Position Paper on the statement of President GMA on making domestic helpers
> "Supermaids".
>
> ____________________ ____________
WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (WID) FOUNDATION[1]
POSITION PAPER ON “SUPERMAIDS”
We believe that foreign DOMESTIC WORK is DECENT WORK only under the following basic conditions:
1. That foreign domestic workers enjoy adequate laws in countries of destination that can be enforced to protect them;
2. That appropriate conditions for work and safety are existent;
3. That salaries are pegged at international standards for the same work;
5. That foreign posts have adequate mechanism to monitor their conditions at worksite on a quarterly basis;
4. That bilateral agreements are forged to ensure their safety in times of war and calamity;
6. That government has the social infrastructure to deal with the personal and social cost resulting from the diaspora of women.[2]
While we believe that that they should be equipped with the necessary skills to handle household gadgets and basic language in their destination countries, this is not a remedy to ensure their safety, provide them with dignity and protect them from the abuse of foreign employers and recruitment agencies.
We cannot agree to a “BAND-AID MAID” strategy that the “SUPERMAID” idea is trying to peddle. It should incorporate government effort to first address the basic conditions enumerated for making foreign DOMESTIC WORK truly DECENT WORK.
(Statement issued August 5, 2006)
[1] Women in Development (WID) Foundation, Inc. is a private development organization working towards the economic and political empowerment of women. We can be reached at this address: WID Foundation, 2nd Floor, OFW Telemoney Center, RCBC Savings Bank Building, 527 EDSA, Pasay City, telephone number 8893992 or email ofw_remit@yahoo.com
[2] Seventy-four percent (74%) of the total deployment for 2004 are women, 72% for 2005. In 2005, their major destinations in Asia are Hong Kong where 99.9% are working as domestic workers, in Japan where 99% of them work as overseas performing artists (OPAS) and in Taiwan where 53% of them work as caregivers and caretakers. For the same period (2005), the major destinations in the Middle East include Kuwait, where 89% of them work as domestic workers; Saudi Arabia, where they work as domestic helpers (26%) and nurses (18%); United Arab Emirates, where they work as domestic workers (32%) and 35% are working in other service sectors (such as waiters, launderers cleaners, etc.) making the service workers the largest presence in that country; and in war-torn Lebanon where 100% are domestic workers. In Lebanon, domestic helpers are called "filipinas" even by the Filipino priest who provided them shelter during the outbreak of the 2005 Israeli-Lebanese war, and this reference to them was echoed by a labor attaché redeployed in Beirut, who commented on TV that most of the employers "took their filipinas with them."
For Filipino maids in Japan, items 1 and 4 are really impossible. Can our joint forces make a miracle to make all the items below realized in Japan? The Philippine embassy in Japan might be the first entity to say NO. Hope not.
The data that we have could provide a profile of domestic workers in Japan at:
http://www.tpmovers.org/domestic_workers_jap an.htm
We have to do something now or the innocent victims or victims-to-be are not conscious of what is happening now or won't care forever.
Tonyang
www.tpmovers.org (http://www.tpmovers.org)
On 8/7/06, Virginia Pasalo <ofw_remit@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Position Paper on the statement of President GMA on making domestic helpers
> "Supermaids".
>
> ____________________ ____________
WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT (WID) FOUNDATION[1]
POSITION PAPER ON “SUPERMAIDS”
We believe that foreign DOMESTIC WORK is DECENT WORK only under the following basic conditions:
1. That foreign domestic workers enjoy adequate laws in countries of destination that can be enforced to protect them;
2. That appropriate conditions for work and safety are existent;
3. That salaries are pegged at international standards for the same work;
5. That foreign posts have adequate mechanism to monitor their conditions at worksite on a quarterly basis;
4. That bilateral agreements are forged to ensure their safety in times of war and calamity;
6. That government has the social infrastructure to deal with the personal and social cost resulting from the diaspora of women.[2]
While we believe that that they should be equipped with the necessary skills to handle household gadgets and basic language in their destination countries, this is not a remedy to ensure their safety, provide them with dignity and protect them from the abuse of foreign employers and recruitment agencies.
We cannot agree to a “BAND-AID MAID” strategy that the “SUPERMAID” idea is trying to peddle. It should incorporate government effort to first address the basic conditions enumerated for making foreign DOMESTIC WORK truly DECENT WORK.
(Statement issued August 5, 2006)
[1] Women in Development (WID) Foundation, Inc. is a private development organization working towards the economic and political empowerment of women. We can be reached at this address: WID Foundation, 2nd Floor, OFW Telemoney Center, RCBC Savings Bank Building, 527 EDSA, Pasay City, telephone number 8893992 or email ofw_remit@yahoo.com
[2] Seventy-four percent (74%) of the total deployment for 2004 are women, 72% for 2005. In 2005, their major destinations in Asia are Hong Kong where 99.9% are working as domestic workers, in Japan where 99% of them work as overseas performing artists (OPAS) and in Taiwan where 53% of them work as caregivers and caretakers. For the same period (2005), the major destinations in the Middle East include Kuwait, where 89% of them work as domestic workers; Saudi Arabia, where they work as domestic helpers (26%) and nurses (18%); United Arab Emirates, where they work as domestic workers (32%) and 35% are working in other service sectors (such as waiters, launderers cleaners, etc.) making the service workers the largest presence in that country; and in war-torn Lebanon where 100% are domestic workers. In Lebanon, domestic helpers are called "filipinas" even by the Filipino priest who provided them shelter during the outbreak of the 2005 Israeli-Lebanese war, and this reference to them was echoed by a labor attaché redeployed in Beirut, who commented on TV that most of the employers "took their filipinas with them."