Vulnerability Of Women Migrant Workers.pdf

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines issues an advisory on the increased vulnerability of women migrant workers on death row, highlighting the heightened risks of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, human trafficking, and unfair capital trials due to poverty, low literacy, and cultural barriers. The Philippines is urged to remain an abolitionist state and not reintroduce the death penalty to protect the rights of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), particularly women, who constitute 56% of OFWs and face "particular vulnerabilities" including a higher risk of being trafficked and subjected to abuse. The advisory cites key statistics, including approximately 11.5 million migrant domestic workers globally, with at least one in four being a Filipina, and notes that the leading destinations for women OFWs, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, retain and actively apply the death penalty. The Philippine government has enacted legislative instruments to protect OFWs, including the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 and the Magna Carta of Women, which mandates gender-specific programs and services and acknowledges the "significant role of women in nation building" and their "particular vulnerabilities" as OFWs.