Turkey to rush draft bill approving troop deployment to Qatar

 

 Governing party lawmakers propose debating the legislation on Wednesday to allow Turkish troops to be deployed to Qatar. Meanwhile, Turkish exporters say they are ready to meet Qatar's food demand as the row deepens. Photo by: AP. Turkey's President …</s>The Philippines has suspended the deployment of workers to Qatar after several Gulf states severed ties with Doha.

The administration in Manila is concerned that if there are food shortages in Qatar due to the political “siege”, Filipino workers could be the first to suffer.

Government forces have arrested the father of the Maute brothers — leaders of the urban warfare against the military in Marawi City in Mindanao — and four other individuals in Davao City.

The Supreme Court has set the dates for oral arguments on the petition against martial law in Mindanao on June 13-15.

Malacañang Palace officials insist that President Rodrigo Duterte respects Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and his views on the administration’s foreign policy.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken to Qatar and neighbouring Arab states in efforts to find a solution to the Gulf crisis.</s></s>The Philippines on Tuesday halted the deployment of workers to Qatar as the gas-rich Gulf state grappled with a diplomatic crisis after its neighbours cut ties with Doha.

Labour chief Silvestre Bello said Manila was taking precautions as it fears that problems like food shortages could affect the more than 200,000 Filipinos in Qatar should the crisis worsen.

Saudi Arabia and several of its allies on Monday severed relations with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism, in the biggest diplomatic crisis to have hit the Middle East's Gulf region in years.

Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the Maldives also cut ties with Qatar, which Riyadh accused of supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, "that aim to destabilise the region".

The Gulf states and Egypt said their diplomatic move includes closing transport links with Qatar, which relies on imports from its neighbours.

"We are forseeing a possible problem in Qatar," Bello said at a news conference.

"For example, we know for a fact that Qatar does not produce its own food. If anything happens that they run out of food and food riots will take place, definitely our OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers)... will be the first victims," he said.

"That's why we really need to make preparatory measures to meet a possible exigency."

Bello said there were 141,000 documented Filipino workers in Qatar as of last year, but the total number could surpass 200,000 if those without proper documents are counted.

The ban will also affect individuals whose papers have been approved or are scheduled to depart for Qatar, according to Bello.

President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Ernesto Abella said the actions by the Gulf states may have "some ripple effects" on Filipino workers.

He said government agencies would extend assistance to those affected.

More than 10 million Filipinos work or stay permanently overseas, part of a global diaspora that sends back billions of dollars annually to help prop up the economy.</s>Clothes hang along a wall at a camp for migrant workers in the Doha Industrial Area next to piles of garbage and abandoned car parts, while petrol from an overflowing tank drips onto the ground and the air reeks of the stench from an open sewer. Indoors, a single rusty hob covered in grime suffices as kitchen equipment.

Bhanu, a Nepalese worker living in the camp, says he puts up with such conditions because he can earn more than he ever could in his own country.

"I'm here so that I can send money home," he said.

But as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, and is pouring billions of dollars into an infrastructure programme that will require vast numbers of foreign workers, its treatment of migrant labour is coming under the international spotlight.

There is no minimum wage in this tiny Gulf Arab state, so while workers like Bhanu might be glad to have a job when there are few back home and pay is higher, their wages typically range from $8 to $11 a day, and are sometimes as low as $6.75 a day - paltry for a country that boasts a per capita income of around $100,000, one of the highest in the world.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report this month condemning abuses it found in Qatar, calling for an overhaul of labour practices well ahead of the 2022 tournament.

"We met a group of seven Nepali workers at (Qatar's flagship sports complex) Aspire Zone, who said that their employer had not paid them for nearly four months, and that they wanted to return home to Nepal but their employer refused to give their passports back," Human Rights Watch Middle East researcher Priyanka Motaparthy told Reuters in the Qatari capital.

"We interviewed workers on Doha's new airport who said they had illegal wage deductions - employers who had taken money out of their monthly paychecks."

Foreign labourers' plight contrasts with the rising wealth of Qatar's own nationals - who account for just 250,000 of the country's 1.7 million population - which has helped the state, the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, avoid the unrest seen in other parts of the Middle East in the past year.

Last September, the government raised basic salaries and social benefits for Qatari public sector employees by 60 percent, while military staff received 50-120 percent increases.

There were no such pay rises for migrant workers.

Many of those workers, predominantly from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, accumulate significant debts to finance their move to the Gulf, Motaparthy said. Often they arrive without accurate information about the jobs that await them and become trapped in jobs they never agreed to, or receive salaries far below what they counted upon earning.

"Employers are supposed to be responsible for recruitment fees, but nearly every worker we spoke to in Qatar paid their own," she s a id.

While foreign contractors are often to blame for worker abuse, human rights groups criticise the Qatari government for not ensuring companies abide by local laws.

Other Gulf states have also been criticised for their treatment of migrant workers, including the United Arab Emirates, where HRW has highlighted hidden charges and other abuses imposed on labourers on a $27 billion cultural project in Abu Dhabi that will host branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.

However, international human rights organisations say Qatar lags other Gulf states in terms of worker protection, with a sponsorship law seen as one of the most restrictive in the Gulf.

Kuwait and Bahrain have amended their sponsorship rules so workers can change employers after working under a sponsor for three years in Kuwait and for one year in Bahrain. In Qatar, workers need their sponsor's permission to change jobs no matter how long they have worked, leaving employers with the power to register workers who quit as "absconders" subject to detention and deportation or deny them exit visas, HRW says.

Qatar's Ministry of Labour did not respond to requests by Reuters for an interview with officials on employment issues. Ministry of Labour Undersecretary Hussein al-Mulla was quoted as saying by local newspaper al-Arab in May that Qatar intended to abolish the sponsorship system and replace it with a contract-based system. He did not give a timeframe.

Human rights and labour activists say the fact that HRW was allowed to hold a news conference in Qatar this month may be a sign that the government, keen to boost its international image ahead of the World Cup, will address problems.

Qatar's current labour law, passed in 2004, sets a limit on working hours for local and foreign labourers, apart from domestic workers such as housemaids, a n d makes provisions for workers' health and safety. It requires employers to pay wages on time each month and bans recruitment agents licensed in Qatar from charging workers fees. It also prohibits employers from confiscating passports, sets strict requirements for workers' accommodation and bans midday work during summer months.

But inadequate enforcement of the law means employers can pick and choose what protections to give with relative impunity, HRW said.

The law also stipulates that no more than four workers share a room in workers' accommodation, prohibits the use of bunk beds, and requires employers to provide drinking water, air conditioning and proper ventilation at all worker accommodation.

Yet at three labour camps visited by Reuters there were eight workers per small room, all of whom slept in bunk beds.

"The laws are there. They're quite detailed and good. And there are significant penalties for breaking these provisions. But there's no implementation," said Motaparthy, who met officials at Qatar's Foreign Affairs Ministry this month.

"The line over and over again from Qatari officials is that this is illegal in Qatar, so it must not be happening."

As construction on most of the World Cup-specific projects has not yet begun, the number of migrant workers heading to Qatar is likely to rise sharply in the next few years.

The Qatar government, which forecasts a budget surplus of 8 percent of GDP for 2012/13 and revenues of 206 billion riyals ($56.6 bln) thanks to booming revenues from liquefied natural gas, has outlined lavish public investment plans worth $95 billion over five years to 2016.

That will include building roads, public transport facilities, an $11 billion airport, nine state-of-the-art stadiums equipped with cooling technology, and 54 team camps in preparation for the soccer tournament.

Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the government-run committee overseeing World Cup preparations, acknowledged earlier this year that there were labour issues but said Qatar was committed to reform, and contractors would be required to ensure that international labour standards were met.

HRW has asked the committee to introduce independent monitoring of all its projects.

"They do understand that they are out of step with the global community. They profess to care, but I have very little confidence that we are looking at a government that is really prepared to remedy the situation," Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), who met with officials from Qatar's Labour Ministry this month, told Reuters by telephone.

The ITUC has asked to provide a list of companies that it recommends should work on infrastructure projects in Qatar and the government has agreed.

U.S. construction and engineering firm CH2M Hill Inc, which will oversee the construction of World Cup stadiums in Qatar, has said it is working with the government-led committee to develop standards for foreign workers, who are not allowed to join unions in the Gulf state.

For impoverished nations like Nepal and Bangladesh, remittances sent back home from the Gulf by labourers like Bhanu provide a key source of foreign exchange.

But unlike in the UAE, which introduced an electronic wage payment system in 2009, most workers in Qatar are paid in cash rather than via bank accounts, making it difficult to monitor whether they have been paid.

Previous World Cups have provided an opportunity to advance workers' rights in host countries. Workers in South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup, and Brazil, due to stage the event in 2014, secured wage rises and health and safety provisions.

Pressure on Qatar to follow suit will only intensify.

"We said to the Foreign Affairs ministry, Qatar has been a leader in calling for human rights in Libya, in calling for the protection of people in Syria. You can be a leader here, too. This is an opportunity," Motaparthy of HRW said. (Editing by Susan Fenton)</s>“Effective today, the deployment of Filipino workers to Qatar is suspended,” sabi ni Bello.

“There have been wild rumors going around, but our labor attache there said there is no truth to such rumors. There is no food riot, but Filipinos were advised to prepare,” dagdag ni Bello.

“The assessment of Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries by the Department of Foreign Affairs will determine length of deployment ban,” ayon pa kay Bello.

 Sa ngayon, wala pang planong ilikas ang mga Pinoy sa Qatar, bagamat pinayuhan ng Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) unit ang mga OFWs na mag-imbak ng pagkain, tubig at gamot.

 ” Qatar does not produce its own food,” dagdag ni Bello.</s>Clothes hang along a wall at a camp for migrant workers in the Doha Industrial Area next to piles of garbage and abandoned car parts, while petrol from an overflowing tank drips onto the ground and the air reeks of the stench from an open sewer. Indoors, a single rusty hob covered in grime suffices as kitchen equipment.

Bhanu, a Nepalese worker living in the camp, says he puts up with such conditions because he can earn more than he ever could in his own country.

"I'm here so that I can send money home," he said.

But as Qatar prepares to host the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament, and is pouring billions of dollars into an infrastructure programme that will require vast numbers of foreign workers, its treatment of migrant labour is coming under the international spotlight.

There is no minimum wage in this tiny Gulf Arab state, so while workers like Bhanu might be glad to have a job when there are few back home and pay is higher, their wages typically range from $8 to $11 a day, and are sometimes as low as $6.75 a day - paltry for a country that boasts a per capita income of around $100,000, one of the highest in the world.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report this month condemning abuses it found in Qatar, calling for an overhaul of labour practices well ahead of the 2022 tournament.

"We met a group of seven Nepali workers at (Qatar's flagship sports complex) Aspire Zone, who said that their employer had not paid them for nearly four months, and that they wanted to return home to Nepal but their employer refused to give their passports back," Human Rights Watch Middle East researcher Priyanka Motaparthy told Reuters in the Qatari capital.

"We interviewed workers on Doha's new airport who said they had illegal wage deductions - employers who had taken money out of their monthly paychecks."

Foreign labourers' plight contrasts with the rising wealth of Qatar's own nationals - who account for just 250,000 of the country's 1.7 million population - which has helped the state, the world's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, avoid the unrest seen in other parts of the Middle East in the past year.

Last September, the government raised basic salaries and social benefits for Qatari public sector employees by 60 percent, while military staff received 50-120 percent increases.

There were no such pay rises for migrant workers.

Many of those workers, predominantly from India, Nepal and Bangladesh, accumulate significant debts to finance their move to the Gulf, Motaparthy said. Often they arrive without accurate information about the jobs that await them and become trapped in jobs they never agreed to, or receive salaries far below what they counted upon earning.

"Employers are supposed to be responsible for recruitment fees, but nearly every worker we spoke to in Qatar paid their own," she s a id.

While foreign contractors are often to blame for worker abuse, human rights groups criticise the Qatari government for not ensuring companies abide by local laws.

Other Gulf states have also been criticised for their treatment of migrant workers, including the United Arab Emirates, where HRW has highlighted hidden charges and other abuses imposed on labourers on a $27 billion cultural project in Abu Dhabi that will host branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums.

However, international human rights organisations say Qatar lags other Gulf states in terms of worker protection, with a sponsorship law seen as one of the most restrictive in the Gulf.

Kuwait and Bahrain have amended their sponsorship rules so workers can change employers after working under a sponsor for three years in Kuwait and for one year in Bahrain. In Qatar, workers need their sponsor's permission to change jobs no matter how long they have worked, leaving employers with the power to register workers who quit as "absconders" subject to detention and deportation or deny them exit visas, HRW says.

Qatar's Ministry of Labour did not respond to requests by Reuters for an interview with officials on employment issues. Ministry of Labour Undersecretary Hussein al-Mulla was quoted as saying by local newspaper al-Arab in May that Qatar intended to abolish the sponsorship system and replace it with a contract-based system. He did not give a timeframe.

Human rights and labour activists say the fact that HRW was allowed to hold a news conference in Qatar this month may be a sign that the government, keen to boost its international image ahead of the World Cup, will address problems.

Qatar's current labour law, passed in 2004, sets a limit on working hours for local and foreign labourers, apart from domestic workers such as housemaids, a n d makes provisions for workers' health and safety. It requires employers to pay wages on time each month and bans recruitment agents licensed in Qatar from charging workers fees. It also prohibits employers from confiscating passports, sets strict requirements for workers' accommodation and bans midday work during summer months.

But inadequate enforcement of the law means employers can pick and choose what protections to give with relative impunity, HRW said.

The law also stipulates that no more than four workers share a room in workers' accommodation, prohibits the use of bunk beds, and requires employers to provide drinking water, air conditioning and proper ventilation at all worker accommodation.

Yet at three labour camps visited by Reuters there were eight workers per small room, all of whom slept in bunk beds.

"The laws are there. They're quite detailed and good. And there are significant penalties for breaking these provisions. But there's no implementation," said Motaparthy, who met officials at Qatar's Foreign Affairs Ministry this month.

"The line over and over again from Qatari officials is that this is illegal in Qatar, so it must not be happening."

As construction on most of the World Cup-specific projects has not yet begun, the number of migrant workers heading to Qatar is likely to rise sharply in the next few years.

The Qatar government, which forecasts a budget surplus of 8 percent of GDP for 2012/13 and revenues of 206 billion riyals thanks to booming revenues from liquefied natural gas, has outlined lavish public investment plans worth $95 billion over five years to 2016.

That will include building roads, public transport facilities, an $11 billion airport, nine state-of-the-art stadiums equipped with cooling technology, and 54 team camps in preparation for the soccer tournament.

Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of the government-run committee overseeing World Cup preparations, acknowledged earlier this year that there were labour issues but said Qatar was committed to reform, and contractors would be required to ensure that international labour standards were met.

HRW has asked the committee to introduce independent monitoring of all its projects.

"They do understand that they are out of step with the global community. They profess to care, but I have very little confidence that we are looking at a government that is really prepared to remedy the situation," Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), who met with officials from Qatar's Labour Ministry this month, told Reuters by telephone.

The ITUC has asked to provide a list of companies that it recommends should work on infrastructure projects in Qatar and the government has agreed.

U.S. construction and engineering firm CH2M Hill Inc, which will oversee the construction of World Cup stadiums in Qatar, has said it is working with the government-led committee to develop standards for foreign workers, who are not allowed to join unions in the Gulf state.

For impoverished nations like Nepal and Bangladesh, remittances sent back home from the Gulf by labourers like Bhanu provide a key source of foreign exchange.

But unlike in the UAE, which introduced an electronic wage payment system in 2009, most workers in Qatar are paid in cash rather than via bank accounts, making it difficult to monitor whether they have been paid.

Previous World Cups have provided an opportunity to advance workers' rights in host countries. Workers in South Africa, host of the 2010 World Cup, and Brazil, due to stage the event in 2014, secured wage rises and health and safety provisions.

Pressure on Qatar to follow suit will only intensify.

"We said to the Foreign Affairs ministry, Qatar has been a leader in calling for human rights in Libya, in calling for the protection of people in Syria. You can be a leader here, too. This is an opportunity," Motaparthy of HRW said.</s>(UPDATED) The DOLE partially lifts the deployment ban on Qatar. The suspension stays for those whose papers have yet to be processed.

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) partially lifted the suspension of deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Qatar on Wednesday, June 7, a day after the ban was imposed.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Bello said DOLE's Crisis Committee decided to lift the deployment suspension for OFWs who are just returning to Qatar and those who already have an overseas employment certificate (OEC) issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). All with OECs, whether returning to Qatar or new hires, will be allowed to depart.

Bello said, however, that OFWs whose papers are still for processing remain covered by the deployment ban.

"The consensus [of the Crisis Committee] was to lift the temporary moratorium or suspension of deployment of OFWs to Qatar particularly doon sa Balik Manggagawa at saka iyong mga meron nang OEC (those part of Balik Manggagawa and those who already have their OEC)," the DOLE chief said.

The Crisis Committee for Qatar is headed by Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say, with Labor Undersecretary Bernard Olalia and officials from the POEA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) as members.

The committee, in consultation with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Qatar, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and other stakeholders, will continue to monitor the situation in Qatar.

POEA Acting Administrator Aristodes Ruaro, meanwhile, clarified that the processing of papers and OECs will continue, but the documents will not be released while the situation in Qatar is still being monitored.

The partial lifting came as DOLE faced criticism over the suspension, which some said was "prematurely" announced. (READ: DOLE urged to lift suspension of OFW deployment to Qatar)

Bello earlier ordered the suspension, saying DOLE wants to protect OFWs from potential problems such as a food shortage in Qatar.

Qatar is currently in a diplomatic row with other Middle Eastern countries.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Egypt had cut ties with Qatar last Monday, June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Bello on Wednesday said the POLO in Qatar reported the situation there remains normal.

The Qatari government also gave him "101%" assurance that Filipino migrant workers will be protected.

"They guaranteed the safety of our OFWs. There will be no food shortage... They told us, 'Don't worry, everything is fine,'" said Bello.

There are around 245,806 OFWs in Qatar. Filipinos are among the largest groups of foreign workers there. (READ: FAST FACTS: How big is the Filipino community in Qatar?) – Rappler.com</s>Turkey to rush draft bill approving troop deployment to Qatar

 

 Governing party lawmakers propose debating the legislation on Wednesday to allow Turkish troops to be deployed to Qatar. Meanwhile, Turkish exporters say they are ready to meet Qatar's food demand as the row deepens. Photo by: AP. Turkey's President …</s>The Philippine government expressed concern over several Arab powers breaking off diplomatic ties with Qatar, saying this may have "ripple effects" on Filipinos working overseas.

MANILA: The Philippine government expressed concern over several Arab powers breaking off diplomatic ties with Qatar, saying this may have "ripple effects" on Filipinos working overseas.

"Concerned government agencies are looking at the matter and will extend assistance and other support for OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) who may be affected by such action," Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesman, told a media briefing.
The Philippines partially lifts a temporary suspension of deployment of overseas workers to Qatar.