22 countries dangerous to OFWs

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reminded Filipinos that the government may have partially lifted the ban on the deployment of workers to Libya, but there are still 22 countries deemed not safe for Filipino workers.

POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), especially domestic workers or maids, face the risk of abuse in these countries.

“We are not deploying OFWs to countries where there is high risk on the security of our OFWs, particularly where the alert level is big as certified by the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs),” the POEA chief told The Manila Times.

In 2018, the government banned the deployment of Filipino workers to:

• Afghanistan
• Somalia
• Sudan (except Khartoum and the Kenana Sugar Plantation)
• Rwanda
• Burundi
• Syria
• Yemen
• Iraq
• Chechnya Republic
• South Sudan
• Iraqi Kurdistan region
• Ukraine
• Chad
• Cuba
• Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
• Haiti
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Niger
• Palestine
• Somalia
• Zimbabwe