New UAE Visa Law Leaves Many Overseas Filipino Workers Stranded

New UAE Visa Law Leaves Many Overseas Filipino Workers Stranded

By Nykoel Dinardo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

AL AIN, United Arab Emirates – New visa laws passed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have caused many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be stranded outside the UAE.  There are reports that as many as 6,200 OFWs are waiting in Iran and Oman for new visas so that they may reenter the UAE;  some have been waiting as long as a month.

Many OFWs come to the UAE looking for work in the UAE, Oman, and Iran on a visit visa.  However, in March the government of the UAE passed new visa laws that limit the ability to renew visit visas.  Visitors seeking to come to the UAE may apply for a visit visa which is valid for up to 60 days, with a 30 day extension available.  Under the new law, after the visit visa expires, OFWs must apply for a tourist visa.  However, the visa applications can take as long as 60 days to process, leaving many OFWs without valid visas. Before the new law, visa renewals often took no more than 2 or 3 days.  Although the new law applies to anyone wishing to get a visa, many of those affected were Filipino workers.

Without a valid visa, many OFWs have been left stranded in Oman and Iran.  There are reports that as many as 5,000 people are currently stranded on Kish Island in Iran.  Kish has less stringent immigration laws allowing visitors to stay as long as 14 days without a visa, with an extension available for a fee.

Many are living in hotels, others on the streets.  Since laws on Kish forbid immigrants to stay in private homes without a visa, there are limited options.  Photos sent to the Philippines show as many as 12 people living in a single room.  Filipino government officials have said that many are not staying in hotels since many hotels require guests to leave their passports at the desk to ensure payment.

The Filipino government has asked for leniency from the government of the UAE for Filipino immigrants who are stranded, saying that the situation of the OFWs has amounted to a humanitarian crisis.  Many of those who could afford it have returned to the Philippines, but others, especially those employed in the UAE, wish the stay in the Middle East.   However, it is thought that the UAE will not allow for exceptions since the new law was announced over three months before it’s implementation.  Reports say that travel agents may be to blame for misinforming the OFWs as to the effects of the new laws. 

For more information, please see:Khaleej Times – Over 5,000 Await Visas on Kish – 28 September 2008

 

Inquirer – Travel Agencies Blamed for Stranded OFWs Outside UAE – 27 September 2008

Overseas Filipino News – Government Asks UAE’s ‘Leniency’ on Stranded Filipinos – 27 September 2008

ABS-CBN News – 6,000 Pinoys Stranded in Mideast Due to UAE Visa Snags – 26 September 2008

ABS-CBN News – Stranded Pinoys in UAE a Humanitarian Crisis – 26 September 2008

Khaleej Times – Coordinated Effort to Bail Out Filipinos Stranded at Al Buraimi – 24 September 2008

Khaleej Times – 45 Stranded at Al Buraimi Border – 22 September 2008

BRIEF: Turkish Warplanes Target Rebel Stronghold in Iraq

ANKARA, Turkey– On September 25, at least 10 Turkish warplanes launched an air strike against 16 suspected PKK targets in northern Iraq.  According to the PKK, the strike killed one of its members and wounded two civilians.  The Turkish military has not given any casualty figures for the latest raid.

Yesterday’s bombing campaign targeted the villages of Kutak, Surage and Kozala in the Qandil Mountains in Iraq.  Several homes were destroyed, displacing at least five families.  In addition, PKK claims that a school was also damaged.

According to Brig. Gen. Metin Gurak, spokesman for the Turkish military, the raid was in retaliation to the numerous attacks launched by the PKK against Turkish soldiers during the past month, which had claimed the lives of 17 Turkish soldiers.

In October 2007, the Turkish parliament authorized the military to step up activities against PKK strongholds in northern Iraq.  Over the past year the Turkish military has carried out numerous aerial raids and a week long ground incursion against PKK rebels in Iraq.  Last week the Turkish government stated it will request parliament extend the mandate by one year.  The current mandate is set to expire October 17.  According to the military, the PKK rebels regularly carry out cross-border attacks from their bases in northern Iraq against Turkish targets.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Turkish Jets Hit 16 Rebel Targets in Northern Iraq– 26 September 2008

Al Jazeera –Turkey Bombs PKK Bases in Iraq – 26 September 2008

Associated Press – Turkish Warplanes Hit 16 Rebel Targets in Iraq– 26 September 2008

BBC – Turkey Planes Hit PKK Rebels – 26 September 2008

Jerusalem Post – Turkish Warplanes Hit Kurdish Targets in Iraq – 26 September 2008

Top Economist Accuses Fiji’s Finance Ministry of “Twiddling its Thumbs”

By Sarah E. Treptow

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – By August, Fiji’s Ministry of Finance had only spent $15 million of the $162 million allocated for the entirety of 2008. A leading economist, Dr. Biman Prasad, the head of economics at the University of the South Pacific, criticizes the spending, “This is criminal negligence or downright incompetence. While our people are crying out for good roads, reliable water supply and better medical services, the Finance Ministry was sitting around twiddling its thumb.” The comments from Prasad were given at the Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions third delegate’s conference at the Suva Civic Centre.

Prasad hopes that with the exit of the interim Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, the 2009 national budget will include expenditure policies which will help stimulate the economy. He added, “such inertia in such a key ministry is shocking.”

Prasad says further, “Besides improving infrastructure, so much employment could have been created had the money been put to good use. The buck for this pathetic state of affairs stops with the interim Finance Minister.”

Also present at the conference was ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Dr. Prasad highlighted the faults of Qarase’s government and said his party’s squandering of resources and reckless spending gave impetus for the coup that Prasad claims damaged the economy in 2006.

Interim Finance Minister Chaudhry has yet to respond to the accusations.

For more information, please see:

Fijilive – Economist slams Chaudhry’s policies – 27 September 2008

Pacific Magazine – Fiji Government’s Lack of Spending Criticized – 28 September 2008

The Fiji Times Online – Chaudhry exit ‘good for budget’ – 28 September 2008

Visitation Rights Important to Improve Jail Facilities in the Philippines

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) was reportedly denied agency visitation rights at Fort Bonifacio by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) last week.  Their visitation, including lawmakers from the House of Representatives, was spawned by complaints by detained soldiers of their cell conditions.

CHR Chairperson Leila De Lima said Lieutenant Colonel Iluminado Lumakad, commanding officer of the Philippine Marine Corps Headquarters Battalion, refused to allow the CHR team to visit detained marine officers who plotted against the government in 2006.  Lima asserted that the CHR has a constitutional mandate that grants them visitation rights.

“The AFP has a lot of explaining to do. They do not have any authority in any capacity to prevent the CHR from conducting jail visitations. We need not have clearance from the higher ups just so we could visit detention cells throughout the country. Our constitutional mandate is clearly stated and that is what matters most,” De Lima said in her letter to Chief Alexander Yano of the AFP last week.

Lima and the CHR believes that it is important to allow for unannounced visits to detention centers in order to ensure conditions are humane and most importantly, to curb torture.  Lima told a news conference in Manila on Tuesday that CHR has documented more than 300 cases of torture since 2005.  Moreover, she stated that torture is prevalent in ordinary precincts and police stations, and even ordinary civilians who were arrested or detained arbitrarily by army or police forces were beaten, electrically shocked, burned with cigarettes, or suffocated with plastic bags.

Although the Philippines has signed on to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) in April, the protocol has yet to be ratified in the Republic’s Senate.  In the mean time, the government seeks a three to five year deferment on its implementation.  Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita states that the government wishes to conform to United Nations standards by improving jail facilities and prison conditions.  Ermita said that regardless of whether the OPCAT was ratified, the government “wholeheartedly join[s] [their] colleagues in the community of nations in denouncing torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”

Philippine jails are overcrowded, face regular outbreaks of diseases and needs to focus on the rehabilitation and reintegration of an inmate.  Waiting to enforce the OPCAT would allow enough time to address these issues.

For more information, please see:

GMANews.TV – RP Seeks 5 Year Exemption From Anti-Torture Protocol – 23 September 2008

INQUIRER.net – CHR Accuses Military of Denying Right to Visit Jailed Troops – 23 September 2008

Reuters – Torture Prevalent in Philippines – Rights Body – 23 September 2008

Amnesty International Calls for Investigation of Ill-Treated Indonesian Prisoner

By Ryan L. Maness
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

PAPUA, Indonesia – Amnesty International is calling on the Indonesian government to investigate the mistreatment of Ferdinand Pakage, a prisoner in Abepura Prison, after he was beaten by prison officers.

Pakage, who is currently serving a 15 year sentence after a dubious 2006 trial, was beaten by prison officers on 22 September.  The beating was witnessed by other prisoners and resulted in serious injury to Pakage’s hands, legs and left eye.  As of this writing there are no reports of Pakage’s current medical condition.  Prison officials began to beat Pakage after he was removed from solitary confinement.

In their report calling for the investigation, Amnesty International has reminded the Indonesia government that they are signatories to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment and that they are required to take effective measures to prevent torture and perform impartial investigations after torture is committed.

Amnesty International has also said that this beating, and others like it, have been allowed to continue because the Criminal Code has not been reformed.  They have said that the code must be reformed to provide a legal deterrent against beating and torturing prisoners during their detention.

For more information, please see:
Amnesty International – Ill-treatment of Papua prisoner must be investigated – 26 September 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Amnesty International calls on Indonesia authorities to act over detained Papuan – 26 September 2008