45,000 Filipinas Trafficked To Lebanon

[Jollygoodfellow]

A thriving business this trafficking :nuke: Consul renews call to lift deployment banBy Veronica UyINQUIRER.netMANILA, Philippines--Illegal recruiters have trafficked an estimated 45,000 Filipina household service workers (HSWs) to Lebanon since the Philippines imposed the deployment ban to the Middle East country in August 2006, the honorary consul of Lebanon to the Philippines said Sunday.The ban was put in place soon after the Israel-Hezbollah war in July 2006.In a statement e-mailed to media outfits, honorary consul Joseph Assad, who has been calling for the lifting of the ban, said the number of Filipina HSWs in Lebanon is now 70,000, as this 45,000 is in addition to the 25,000 who did not return to the Philippines when the war was waging.Again requesting the government to lift the ban, Assad said that these Filipinas have found jobs in Lebanese homes and are treated well."Lebanon has no ban on Filipinas entering Lebanon nor does it have a ban on any foreign national seeking employment in the country. The 45,000 Filipinas who entered Lebanon have found jobs in Lebanese households as the Lebanese people treat [them] as family," he said."Most Lebanese families have someone living andworking abroad and they understand the meaning of someone leaving his country to work abroad because the Lebanese people have been immigrants for over 200 years," he added.But Assad said he is worried about the Filipinas' undocumented status as far as the Philippine government is concerned."The very large number of undocumented Filipinas [in Lebanon] is an untenable and unhealthy situation that the Philippine government should take steps to remedy with a compassionate and comprehensive amnesty since these Filipinas' only crime was they were born into poverty," he said.Assad also pointed out that the 45,000 Filipina HSWs who left for Lebanon despite the ban is just 8,000 lower than the 53,000 HSWs who legally left for Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi from 2006 to 2007.He said the segregated 2008 figures for HSWs were not yet available.Most Filipina HSWs bound for Lebanon slip into that country using either Bangkok or Dubai as jump-off points.Aside from Lebanon, the Philippines has a standing deployment ban to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.