More than 9 months after the ban on sending new domestic workers from the Philippines and Kuwait’s suspension of new visas for them, a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon with the statements issued by the Undersecretary of the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eduardo de Vega, who confirmed that his country hopes to sit with the Kuwaiti side and discuss the resumption of sending workers, after the Kuwaiti Juvenile Court convicted the juvenile who is accused of killing the worker, Jolibi Ranara.
De Vega said, in a press interview the day before yesterday, that the ruling was a “positive step” in terms of achieving justice for the Ranara family, stressing his country’s recognition of Kuwait’s efforts, reports Al-Rai daily.
He added: “We hope to sit down again with Kuwait, so that we can talk about the current situation and find solutions for the return of workers.”
He pointed out, “Depending on how our colleagues in the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) feel, I think we can ask Kuwait to resume our talks, so that we can see how we can move forward, and ultimately be able to lift the suspension on both sides.”
Commenting on the position of the Philippine government, Bassam Al-Shammari, a specialist in domestic workers’ affairs, considered it “a good gesture to resolve the crisis between the two countries in a way that serves the interests of the two peoples,” pointing out that this step is considered the beginning of resolving the problem of the shortage of domestic workers in Kuwait, which contributes to stability and balance in the Kuwaiti labor market.
He hoped to work to organize and do good on all the previous mistakes and negatives that led to the deterioration of relations between the two friendly countries on the labor side, in the domestic and private sectors, which caused a clear imbalance in the labor market.
In turn, the owner of a domestic worker office praised the statement of the Philippine Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, considering it to be a glimmer of hope for resolving the crisis that clearly caused huge losses to both sides.
He added that there has been a great demand for Filipino workers in Kuwait for years, and this has caused harm to many employment agencies, hoping that negotiations will quickly begin to return to normal.
Al-Shammari stressed the necessity of resolving the crisis with the Philippines before the end of this year because of its negative repercussions on Kuwaiti families.
He pointed out that Filipino female workers occupy first place in the domestic workers sector, at a rate of 50 percent of the total domestic workers in Kuwait currently, according to the latest official statistics, with approximately 195,000 domestic workers.
He touched on some of the reasons that make Filipino domestic workers preferred by many…
— The culture of this workforce is that it has a good level of education, not less than a secondary education and a diploma, and sometimes the level of education is university.
— The professionalism of the workers, their access to training courses in the field of domestic work, and their proficiency in the English language.
— Their positive interaction with children and caring for the elderly.
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