PHILIPPINE GOVERMENT BARS WORKERS FROM JORDAN TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 000410 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2018 TAGS: PREL PHUM ELAB SMIG KWMN KCRM JO RP CE SUBJECT: PHILIPPINE GOVERMENT BARS WORKERS FROM JORDAN TO PROTEST THEIR TREATMENT REF: A. AMMAN 296 ¶B. 07 AMMAN 4991 Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On January 17, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment announced a temporary ban on Filipino workers going to Jordan due to the "growing number of distressed Filipino workers being housed in the Filipino Workers Resource Center in Jordan". Philippine diplomats in Amman told Emboffs during a January 29 roundtable that they hoped this move would encourage the GOJ to waive outstanding overstay fines for Filipino domestic workers. South Asian diplomats in Jordan described various factors - ranging from the inadequacy of Jordanian labor law, to greedy recruitment agencies, to employers who withhold passports - that aggravate the situation and expose domestic workers to abuses at the hands of employers. End Summary. Registering Domestic Workers -------------- ¶2. (SBU) According to 2006 Jordanian Ministry of Labor regulations, sponsors of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) must pay residency permit fees to the GOJ prior to the worker's arrival in Jordan. Typically, recruiting agencies charge the sponsor a lump sum fee that includes the airline ticket, the residency fee, and the agency's fee. Workers may become illegal in one of several ways: (1) If the worker runs away from the sponsor's employ, the sponsor may file a claim with the Jordanian police and post a public notice, which indemnifies the sponsor from future penalties; (2) if the sponsor or recruiting agency fail to renew the worker's annual residency permit; (3) if the worker arrived before the issuance of the 2006 regulations, the sponsor may not have applied for her residency in which case the worker has been illegally present in Jordan since her arrival. In any case, responsibility for penalties related to overstaying their visa is borne by the worker. Overstay Fines Present Obstacle to Repatriating Runaway Filipino Workers -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) During a January 29 roundtable with labor officers from source countries' embassies in Jordan, Philippine diplomats estimated that they have nearly 18,000 workers in Jordan - approximately 95 percent of whom are employed as domestic workers, with the remainder employed as nurses or in the service industry (typically in hotels, salons or restaurants). According to Philippine diplomats, nearly three quarters of workers they encounter lack an employment contract that has been verified by the appropriate employment agency as required under the Philippine law. ¶4. (SBU) Philippine Consul General Renato Vella told emboffs that the Philippine employment center (a de facto shelter) in Jordan currently houses approximately 185 runaways. Vella and his colleagues described dreadful conditions at the center - built to accommodate 60 persons at most - and their inability to continue to fund the center and basic costs such as food. According to Vella, the Philippine Embassy's labor office needs to repatriate the runaway workers home, and is willing to pay the return airfare to that end, but the GOJ would need to waive the overstay penalties that these workers have accrued under Jordanian residency law. At JD 1.5 (USD 2.12) per day of illegal status, these fines accumulate rapidly. Vella admitted that in 2007, the Philippine government paid the overstay fines from an assistance fund for nationals on behalf of several abused workers. Because of this precedent, he doubted that the GOJ would agree to waive additional fees, despite his government's entreaties. By way of ex ample, a Philippine vice consul described the case of a Filipino incarcerated since August 2007 because she overstayed her residence by three months and is unable to pay fines totaling JD 135 (USD 189). He described other cases of runaways imprisoned on "trumped up" charges filed by their former employers, and waits of three to four months before they can see a judge due to lapses in transport between the detention centers and the courts. ¶5. (C) In response to the increasing number of runaway workers, the Philippine Government has temporarily barred the travel of any Filipino workers to Jordan. Vella reported that the Jordanian Ministry of Labor (MOL) summoned his ambassador following the January 17 announcement to discuss the suspension - which Vella seemed inclined to recommend lifting if the GOJ lifts the legal and financial barriers to repatriation of their nationals. Other Foreign Domestic Workers Facing Similar Problems AMMAN 00000410 002 OF 003 -------------- -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Along with Filipinos, SRI Lankans and Indonesians - primarily women - compose the majority of foreign domestic workers in Jordan. According to Mahinda Samarasekera, the Consular, Labor and Welfare officer at the SRI Lankan embassy in Amman, between 35,000 and 40,000 SRI Lankans are employed as domestics in Jordan. Samarasekera remarked that his embassy continues to house a regular population of 90 runaway domestic workers in a space that he admitted was "not up to standard," but was the "best they could provide with limited funding" from the Government of SRI Lanka. Unpaid wages -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Philippine diplomats also noted that in 2007 Filipino nationals made approximately 50 to 60 claims through the Ministry of Labor for unpaid wages totaling nearly JD60,000 (USD 84,000). MOL officials reportedly told them these claims were contractual, and because domestic workers are not covered under Jordanian labor law, they must be filed in civil court, and that the workers (or embassy) would be responsible for any resulting court fees. The recruiting agencies -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Source country diplomats offered few kind words for the recruiting agencies which they see as complicit in the mistreatment of their nationals. Philippine diplomats charged that some agencies threaten or abuse the workers they have brought to Jordan, that they withhold passports, and that illegal recruiters are promising wages on the order of USD 400 per month but, once the laborers are in Jordan, in fact only paying wages of USD 170 per month. Source country representatives lamented that, in their pursuit for profit, the recruiting agencies disregard the basic rights of workers. ¶9. (SBU) Representatives further complained that recruiting agencies post a bond of JD 50,000 (USD 70,000) to the MOL to receive registration. In theory, if an employer fails to produce appropriate documentation, fails to pay a worker, or doesn't provide a ticket to repatriate the domestic worker, funds can be deducted from this bond by the MOL. But none of the diplomats could recall a case wherein this fund had been tapped. Sexual Assault and Prosecution -------------- ¶10. (C) Many cases of sexual assault, including rape, go unpunished, according to SRI Lankan and Philippine representatives. While they credit the Public Security Directorate (PSD)'s Family Protection Unit (FPU) with investigating allegations of sexual abuse, they criticized a process they see as tilted against victims. For instance, FPU investigators do not permit the accuser to have a lawyer or embassy representative present during their interview. Because Jordanian law requires four witnesses to a rape for the accusation to stand alone, they rely heavily on forensic evidence which is often lacking when the crime is reported, often months after its commission. The SRI Lankan Embassy's legal advisor claimed that the FPU translator often dissuades victims from filing cases by reminding them that if the defendant is acquitted, he can file a charge of false accusation against his accuser - for which the foreign domestic worker could be imprisoned. Both Filipino and SRI Lankan diplomats estimate that the va st majority of sexual assault accusations are quietly settled and that recruiting agencies often broker a financial settlement in return for the FDW's swift departure from Jordan. Their solutions -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The short-term answer, according to Philippine and Sri Lankan diplomats, is amnesty for out-of-status domestic workers who have been mistreated by employers. Samarasekera recalled 38 waivers being granted to SRI Lankans in 2005; 27 in 2006, but not a single case in 2007. Their frustration peaked during the SRI Lankan president's late 2007 visit to Jordan, when he raised the overstay issue with King Abdullah; Samarsekera said they are "hoping for good results" in 2008. The longer term solutions - according to the roundtable representatives - involve broadening the provisions of the Jordanian labor law to domestic workers and establishing a standard procedure between the Ministries of Interior and Labor to allow vulnerable domestic workers to return to their home countries. AMMAN 00000410 003 OF 003 Comment -------------- ¶12. (SBU) The plight of FDW's in Jordan tracks closely with the situation facing QIZ workers, with the added twist that Jordanian labor law doesn't apply to domestic workers. Despite nearly six months of deliberations, the GOJ has yet to waive overstay fines for QIZ workers as recommended by the MOL (ref b). Given the strains on the current budget (ref a),some diplomats and investors say that the cabinet will have a hard time swallowing a pill that requires them to waive millions in overstay fines from the QIZs. FDWs and their advocates face a similar uphill battle as this issue remains unresolved - even if these fines are unlikely to ever be collected, and result in FDW's living in squalor while the deliberations continue. HALE