The Department of Migrant Workers in the Philippines praised and welcomed the UK Supreme Court decision which ruled that diplomats can not use their diplomatic immunity to exploit their domestic workers.
In a statement, the DMW asserted that diplomats who hire Filipinos as household service workers should never hide under the veil of diplomatic immunity as a form of justification to avoid charges against them
“This diplomatic immunity can never be used as a sanctuary against inhumane treatment, abuse, and exploitation – key facets of modern-day slavery,” read the statement.
“This decision, the first of its kind the world over, opens the floodgates for workers abused by their employers who are members of the diplomatic community, to seek recompense and refuge under the law,” it added.
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The judgment stems from the case of Josephine Wong, an OFW originally based in Saudi, who said that she was treated ‘like a slave’ and was forced to wear a bell 24 hours a day to be at the beck and call of her former employer, London-based Saudi diplomat Khalid Basfar.
Wong shared that she first worked for the Basfar family in November 2015 in Saudi Arabia, and was shifted to UK in August 2016 to continue working for the diplomatic household.
However, investigations revealed that Wong was confined to diplomat’s home in UK all the time – and was only allowed to leave Basfar’s home whenever she took out the trash.
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“She was held virtually incommunicado, being allowed to speak to her family only twice a year using Basfar’s mobile telephone. She was made to work from 7am to around 11.30pm each day, with no days off or rest breaks, and was required to wear a doorbell at all times so that she was at the family’s beck and call 24 hours a day,” read the judgement on the case as per reports from The Guardian.
It added that Wong was treated inhumanely, as Basfar allegedly called her names and was forced to eat left over food.
“She was shouted at incessantly and regularly called offensive names. When the family was at home, Ms Wong was only allowed to eat their leftover food; if they were out, she could cook something for herself,” it added.
