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The Philippine government has called on the world to intensify efforts to protect migrant workers.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, in his statement before the plenary session of the 107th International Labor Conference (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland, stressed the need for global intervention to protect migrant workers.
Bello said the 鈥渦nfortunate experiences鈥� suffered by Filipino overseas workers was in line with the theme of the ILO this year鈥斺�淲omen at Work.鈥�
In particular, Bello said the Philippines was recently in the global spotlight amid reports of deaths and abuses of Filipino women in the Middle East.
There were reports of听violent deaths and abuses, and a number of rape cases of听household service workers, the Labor chief noted.
鈥淭he Philippines is unrelenting in pushing for a fair and听humane treatment of our overseas workers especially our听women migrant workers,鈥� Bello said in the statement read for him by Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod.
鈥淭hey are, on varying degrees,听subjected to violence at work and experienced abuse and听inhumane treatment,鈥� the statement said.
While the Philippine government has been 鈥渁ctively鈥� engaging with foreign countries that harbor Filipino workers, Bello said it was 鈥渘ot enough.鈥�
鈥淢uch remains to be done.听Among which is the need for more responsive international听cooperation tools to enable governments and stakeholders听to provide safer and more suitable migration blueprint,鈥� Bello said.
Bello said it was 鈥渉eartbreaking鈥� to note that 鈥渄espite global interventions, not only by the ILO but of other international organizations,听we have yet to achieve gender equality at this听technologically-advanced age.鈥�
鈥淲e beg for answer. When will听this culture of inequality end?鈥� he asked.听听 /muf