25.1.2017
Call for Transparency and an Audit of all
Filipino Migrant Workers on Death Row or Languishing in Prison Abroad.
Jakatia Pawa, a domestic worker from Zamboanga lost her life today
when she was executed in Kuwait for
allegedly stabbing her employer's 22-year-old daughter whilst she slept on May
14, 2007. Kanlungan offers our condolences to her family, especially her two
children (aged 18 and 16) who have lost their mother in this cruel and inhuman
way.
The notification of the scheduled
execution was only published on the day eliminating any last intervention and
inhumanely preventing a final goodbye with her family in person. She informed
her family the day before by telephone. No one’s life should end in such a
torturous manner.
Since 1989, Kanlungan have handled
many legal cases involving migrant workers who faced or were executed overseas
such as the cases of Flor Contemplacion, Sarah Demetera and Sarah Balabagan.
It’s common for serious doubt and
sometimes evidence challenging their guilt to come to light. Jakatia professed
her innocence since the day she was arrested in 2007. She argued the victim’s
family members had a stronger motive to kill her because of an alleged illicit
love affair with a male neighbour. Philippine Senator Cynthia Villar reported
that the DNA found on the murder weapon did not match that of Jakatia. The
death penalty is wrong given it is an irreversible punishment - the risk of
executing an innocent person can never be eliminated.
Migrant workers face
discrimination in societies and in the justice systems, thus are more likely to
be sentenced to death in unjust circumstances.
There have been cases where migrant workers with mental health problems
were unfairly executed. Extenuating circumstances such as migrant workers being
subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse by their employer are very
rarely considered. Scapegoating migrants for the crimes of their employer’s
family members is common. This is compounded by the many well-documented obstacles
to access to justice for migrant workers, which remain due to lack of
commitment and political will to overcome them.
We have observed that the lack of
legal assistance or delayed assistance from the state that resulted in either death
or prolonged incarceration of our fellow compatriots. Sometimes the lack of concern and support
from embassy officials, recruitment agencies and even their own families aggravates
the situation. Blaming the victim and lack of empathy also exacerbates the
suffering of migrant workers.
Access to justice of migrant
workers should not only be limited to court legal assistance and raising “blood
money”, as we have experienced in the case of Sarah Dematera. A holistic
approach in handling legal cases should be adopted that includes other
interventions such as psychosocial counseling and welfare assistance and also a
much quicker response to realise the rights of the migrants and their families.
Apart from the people appallingly
condemned to death, many hundreds if not thousands of migrant workers are also suffering
and waiting for justice; such as the men in Saudi Arabia hoping that the courts
will ensure they are paid their long overdue salaries and end of service
benefits - rather than them joining the many who have experienced wage theft
with state complicity.
It is important to remember that Jakatia
Pawa’s tragic story did not
begin with her legal case. Like many others it is grounded in the root causes of
why Filipinos seek employment in countries abroad. In the case of Jakatia Pawa,
she was underemployed overseas as a domestic worker holding a bachelors degree
in banking and finance. It’s time to end the Philippines aggressive labour
export regime and develop an economy with shared prosperity and equal
opportunity for all.
We must guard against any
normalisation of a culture of violence experienced by migrant workers whether
its verbal and physical abuse or sexual and gender based violence or violation
of their right to life.
As 88 people from the Philippines
(and numerous others) currently face the death penalty worldwide: we call for
all countries that still use the death penalty to immediately halt all
executions and commute all death sentences to prison sentences. It is a timely
reminder of why the death penalty should not be passed here in the Philippines.
We hope that Jakatia Pawa’s cruel death will
be the last.
Kanlungan Centre Foundation, Inc.
77 K-10 Street, East Kamias, Quezon City
Philippines
Website: www.kanlungan.org
Email: kanlungan2008@gmail.com
