Just months of patching up frayed bilateral ties, the Philippines and Kuwait are once again pitched in a diplomatic crisis over the latter’s ill-treatment of Filipino domestic workers.
This week, the Kuwaiti government expelled Philippine Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa and recalled its ambassador to Manila. The diplomatic recalls came just days after the release of a video of a Philippine Rapid Response Team rescuing distressed Filipino domestic helpers went viral on the internet.
Posted online by the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, the video shows an apparent Philippine Embassy staff member rescuing a Filipino domestic worker by whisking her into a waiting black SUV after she reported being kicked by an alleged abusive employer.
The video showed just one of several such rescues in the last two weeks, reports said. An estimated 262,000 Filipinos currently live in Kuwait, with over 150,000 working in household services, according to the Philippine Foreign Department.
Concerns about their collective treatment in Kuwait spiked in February when a Filipino maid’s body was found in a freezer bearing signs of torture. While the employer has since confessed to the crime, Manila has asserted its right to look after its nationals living abroad.
Filipino workers arrive at the airport in Manila on February 23, 2018 following President Duterte’s call for workers to be evacuated after a Filipina was found dead in a freezer. Photo: Reuters/ Romeo Ranoco
The Kuwaiti government has responded to the rescue mission by issuing warrants of arrest for three Filipino diplomats involved in the rescue mission portrayed in the viral video. The move represents a potential breach of the Vienna Convention, which ensures immunity for diplomats while performing their duties.
Kuwaiti authorities have declared Ambassador Villa persona non grata and have detained four junior members of the Philippine Embassy’s staff, all of whom stand accused of abetting an illegal rescue mission.
The Gulf state has specifically accused the Philippines of violating its sovereignty by “smuggling Filipino maids in flagrant violation of Kuwait’s laws and international diplomatic rules.”
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