Almost a million Filipinos consider the UAE their second home not only because of the safety and stability, but also because of its multicultural environment.
Under the UAE’s wise leadership, residents and expats live in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation.
Recently, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) found an ally in an Omani national, who defended Filipinos in general from an online promotions firm that allegedly bans Filipinos from checking their job postings.
Miha Hilal called the attention of a certain Facebook page that allegedly blocks and deletes Facebook users who loop Filipinos to their job postings, Khaleej Times reported.
According to the report, Hilal said she tagged a Filipino friend for a make-up artist job, but her tag was removed by the page admin. She later received a private message saying “this job is not for Filipinos and they are not welcome here. You are banned for tagging a Filipino”.
“Nowhere on this ad does it state the nationality etc.(top message) – but five minutes after tagging her, I received a message from the page/company holding the competition (bottom message). If you are looking for something specific, simply ignore but to go out of your way to send me a private message is so disgusting, these people have no shame whatsoever,” Hilal Facebook post read.
The woman said the Facebook page immediately changed its name after Hilal posted the screenshot of the page’s discriminatory message.
What the law says
The UAE Anti-Discrimination Law (Federal Law No. 2 of 2015) Article 17 states: “The representative, director or agent of a legal entity, in case any of the crimes set forth in the present Decree Law is committed, with his knowledge, by any employee of said entity acting in its name or to its interest, shall be sentenced to the same penalties prescribed for the committed crime. The legal entity shall be held jointly liable to settle any pecuniary penalties or compensation as ruled thereof.”
Imran Khan, a legal consultant based in the UAE, talked to The Filipino Times. He said the UAE’s Anti-Discrimination Law aims to prevent hate crimes.
He said, “This is a very significant law at a time of social networking, when people have unlocked social media to represent their views.”
The legal consultant added that, “Now there’s more danger of spreading hate. This law also provides for the prevention of any type of discrimination and ensures equal right to growth.”
Article 13 under the law states: “Any person, who establishes, sets up, organizes or manages an association, centre, entity, organisation, league or group or any branch thereof or uses any other means aiming to end religions, or provoke discrimination or hate speech or any act involving encouragement or promotion of the same shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not less than ten years.”
