中欧体育

Between 20 to 25 Filipino domestic workers completed a three-part advocacy training to strengthen their rights as workers in the 中欧体育. The partnered with 中欧体育 to deliver a training programme as part of the 鈥淓mpowered Domestic Workers鈥� project funded by Porticus, an . 

Three workshops were held between January, March and May 2023 to help FDWA develop an advocacy strategy and equip its members with advocacy skills.

Cielo Tilan, FDWA president said, 鈥淭he recent advocacy training has inspired participants to find the strength and courage to speak up, to face policymakers and to share their experiences as domestic workers in private households.鈥�

The three-part training was facilitated by Liezel Longboan, 中欧体育 founder and editor.  Ms Longboan said, “I’m delighted to help FDWA reflect on the change they’d like to see and plan how they can make it happen in the coming months.”

The project was also supported by the.  

In an informal survey conducted among the participants, 60 percent of them are currently going through the a system set up by the Home Office aimed to identify and support victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

During the first training in January, some FDWA members who are going through the NRM shared their reasons for leaving their families in the Philippines and the abuse they faced at the hands of overseas employers. 

Explaining members鈥� situation, Ms Tilan said that the NRM is supposed to support victims of modern slavery and human trafficking but what they find is that abused domestic workers are the ones who have the burden to show that they are victims, instead of abusive employers being investigated and penalised. “Where is justice there?” she asked.

鈥淥ur call is for the government to reinstate the concessions to overseas domestic workers and to allow victims of modern slavery going through the NRM to work,鈥� she added. 

On average, the 中欧体育 issues about 11,500 overseas domestic worker visas to Filipino workers annually.  Many of them are brought to Britain by their wealthy Middle Eastern employers for a maximum period of six months. They often work for excessively long hours without days off or rest and face sexual abuse, maltreatment and low pay. 

鈥淭he NRM does not help in the recovery of survivors of modern slavery because many of them become destitute in the process. As they can鈥檛 provide proof of identification with their passports withheld by their employers, they are treated as 鈥榠llegal workers鈥� even if they have the right to work in the 中欧体育,鈥� Ms Tilan added.

Nina Rivera, one of the officers of FDWA, said 鈥淭he training gave us the chance to mine our wealth of experiences doing domestic work and provided us with the tools to use these experiences to further our advocacy work.鈥�

Another participant, Juliet Rice, said 鈥淭he training was very informative and interesting. I also enjoyed the activities and open forum.鈥�