WE RISE for justice because everyday, Filipino women migrants are among the scores of women workers who work and live in a condition of exploitation and abuse.
This was declared by Rowena dela Cruz, vice chairperson of GABRIELA – HK as the group announced their lead participation in the One Billion Rising for Justice in Hong Kong this Sunday, February 9. The OBR for Justice – HK will highlight the call for justice to abused Indonesian maid, Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, and the call for reforms on policies that make migrant domestic workers vulnerable to violence.
“Erwiana’s case is one of the worst that the world has seen but it is not the first nor definitely the last as women domestic workers continue to be the epitome of modern-day slaves. Filipino women domestic workers all over the world also suffer everyday under abusive conditions, trapped in debt to agencies and loan sharks, vulnerable to different forms of violence inside households and in the general society, and abandoned by the government,” Dela Cruz stated.
There are currently over 150,000 Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong comprised overwhelmingly of women. According to a study of the Mission For Migrant Workers (MFMW), 58% of women domestic workers in Hong Kong suffer from verbal abuse, 18% experience physical abuse and 6% are victims of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, among those assisted by the MFMW with their problems in the first half of 2013 alone, 72% complained of overcharging and other exploitative practices of recruitment and money lending agencies.
“The policies in Hong Kong such as the Two-Week Rule and the mandatory live-in arrangement dictate our working and living condition and most of the abuses go unreported and unpunished. Services to migrants in distress by the HK government and, more importantly, by the Philippine government is very limited and very discouraging for OFWs who may want to seek redress,” Dela Cruz added.
Such vulnerable condition, Dela Cruz relayed, stems primarily from the forced migration of the Filipino people. In 2012, the Philippines’ labor export program deployed about 2.2 millions OFWs and almost half of them are women who mostly work as domestic workers, caregivers, entertainers and other jobs that have high degree of risk for abuses and violations of rights.
“Lack of a decent employment, inaccessibility of social services, soaring cost of living, privatization of education and health, demolition of houses, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance of activists – all these and more constitute violence against women perpetrated by the Philippine state. These are violations from which we want justice and the justice we seek is genuine change that will not force millions of mothers and sisters to leave our family just so we can survive,” Dela Cruz remarked.
The GABRIELA-HK officer stated that the OBR-HK is just part of their advocacy to end abuses and exploitation of women foreign domestic workers by employers, agencies and governments.
“We will continue to rise until justice for migrant women and all toiling women is achieved,” Dela Cruz concluded.
Rowena dela Cruz
Gabriela Hong Kong
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