A new lawsuit against the UAE for human trafficking
Human rights organizations in the Philippines are to file a lawsuit against the UAE on charges of human trafficking.
Emirates Leaks learned that these organizations are working to collect testimonies from Filipino citizens sold from the UAE to Syria.
The organizations are also working on consulting European lawyers to strengthen the legal position in the case against the UAE.
Yesterday, Filipino media outlets said that Filipino service workers arrived in their country after being forcibly transferred earlier, from the UAE to Syria.
According to the Philippine Official News Agency (PNA), three Filipino workers who survived human trafficking crimes have arrived in their countries after they were forcibly deported from the UAE to Syria.
The agency stated that “the workers were transferred from the shelter of the Philippine embassy in Damascus to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.”
It added that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in the Syrian capital are working with all their strength to return the remaining Filipinos in the embassy shelter.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also affirmed its readiness to support workers to start their lives anew and assist them in filing criminal complaints about violations of the Anti-Human Trafficking Law and the Migrant Workers Law against them.
In a statement last March, the Philippine Immigration Office revealed that it was investigating allegations that some officers were involved in smuggling 44 women to work in Syria.
A local investigation into the crime of human trafficking in the Philippines indicated that “44 women travelled on tourist visas from the Philippines to Dubai, where they were promised to work there, and then were transferred to Syria.”
The head of the Immigration Office, Jaime Moriente, expressed his regret “about the alleged involvement of members of the Immigration Office in these heinous acts”.
He revealed that “at least 28 immigration officers are under investigation on this charge,” and he promised those involved in the file “to face the harshest penalties.”
The Washington Post said last January that dozens of children and women from the Philippines employed in the UAE were victims of trafficking after being forced to work as domestic workers in Syria.
The newspaper reported that about 35 women took refuge at the Philippine embassy in Damascus after being physically and sexually assaulted while working for wealthy Syrian families.
The newspaper reviewed testimonies of Filipino workers, in which they talk about the violations they were subjected to in Syria, noting that after nearly a decade of war, migrant workers have left Syria.
But wealthy Syrian families are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a maid, which has increased the demand for and trafficking in migrant women.
