Five Filipinos who were trafficked to Syria were repatriated back to the Philippines last Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
The DFA added in a statement that the repatriates were “illegally hired” to work in Syria and had come as tourists to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from where they were taken to the country.
Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola said that they sought refuge at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus “because of the abuses they received from their employers” as well as poor working conditions.
The DFA would extend reintegration assistance to the five repatriates. In February this year, six trafficking survivors from Syria were repatriated and three others had also returned home in April.
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Earlier a Washington post report titled “Sold into Syrian servitude, Filipina workers tell of abuse, rape and imprisonment” had first exposed the plight of dozens of Filipino women recruited to work in the United Arab Emirates and trafficked to Syria to serve as domestic workers without their consent.
As per the report the migrant workers were at times denied pay and subjected to physical and sexual abuse by their employers and many women who escaped from their employers’ homes fled to the Philippine Embassy in Damascus but “were not greeted with the sanctuary they had hoped for.”
The victims had described embassy personnel as strict who denied them breakfast for two weeks as a punishment for minor offenses like sneaking extra food from the kitchen.
Responding to the report, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on January 26 said he would repatriate all the “distressed workers” seeking shelter at the Philippine Embassy in Damascus.
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He also ordered an inquiry by DFA on the conduct of embassy personnel for the “poor treatment” of the victims who were under their care.
Arriola said they were holding to account those who” perpetrated the crime of trafficking-in-persons against our kababayan” and assured that survivors will be given due assistance in the filing and prosecution of criminal complaints.
He added that the DFA was listening to the voices of trafficked people and “we are here to learn from their experiences and we recognize them as key actors in the whole-of-government fight against human trafficking.” (AW)
