Migrant women reveal abuses against them following Cyprus serial killing case

FILE: Lives of a domestic worker in Jakarta, Indonesia as part of the photo stories produced by Indonesian youth in Jakarta and Makassar called “Fom Youth to Youth: Nine Stories of Our Friendship with Domestic Workers”. (Photo by ILO in Asia and the Pacific/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

A number of migrant women working in Cyprus came forward to reveal abuses done against them by their employers, after a 35-year-old army officer reportedly confessed to murdering five women and two minors who are all foreign nationals.

BBC, in its report, quoted Lissa Jatass, a domestic worker campaigning for the rights of migrant women in Cyprus, saying that the killings “are a wake-up call.”

“Housemaids here suffer with this bad system. Women here are the least represented in society,” she said.

According to Ester Beatty, chairperson of the Federation of Filipino Organizations in Cyprus, women go to work because they felt “a bit more relaxed” as their contracts require their employers to give them free food and accommodation.

Employees should also work only 42 hours a week with one day off.

Despite this, Beatty said they regularly deal with women who are complaining that they are paid below the minimum wage of €400.

She added that these women frequently work 12 to 14 hours per day with little or no rest day and that they often experience sexual harassment.

One example is Santie, a Filipina who flew to  Cyprus in 2011 in the hopes of providing a better future to her family.

“We come here and sacrifice our lives. We have families to give food, children to send our salary to. We do this to support our children,” she told BBC, adding, “But they are treating us like slaves.

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Santie also said she was being sexually harassed, an incident she already complained to her agent.

But instead of addressing her concern, Santie said her agent told her that what she claims to be a sexual harassment “was only a friendly touch.” The agent also told her that she would need to spend six months with her employer before she can be “released” and allowed to look for another work.

Afraid of what might happen if she stays, Santie, did not follow what the agent advised her to do and ran away from her employer.

BBC also shared the story of Liza who previously worked for an elderly couple. According to her, the husband would repeatedly ask her to join him in bed so that Liza could touch and hug him.

She also said she was assaulted by her male employer in her part-time job.

Liza was asked if she already reported the incidents to the police, but the latter replied, “They won’t do anything.”

Both Santie and Liza, the report said, were “released” by their agents. Santie said she found new employers, however, she works 14 hours a day.

She added that she was not given annual leave, saying that she was asked “to work in the restaurant, the house, outside the house.”

BBC reported that police in Cyprus are looking into the complaints of sexual harassment. If a case is established, it said, then it will be forwarded for criminal prosecution.

3 Pinays murdered

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) earlier confirmed that three Filipinas were among the “victims” of the army officer.

They were identified as Mary Rose Tiburcio, 38, who was with her daughter; Arian Palanas Lozano, 28; and Maricar Valtez Arquiola, 31.

Reports said the serial killer met with the Filipinas through a dating site where he used the name “Orestes.

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The DFA had extended its condolences to the victims’ families, assuring its readiness to provide them assistance should it be needed.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (CBCP-ECMI), meanwhile, condemned the “brutal, tragic and inhuman” killing of the three.

“Our pray and hope that no more life will be lost, wasted because of that horrible and senseless killings; and (the) perpetrator would be arrested, and criminally punished,” CBCP-ECMI chairman, Bishop Ruperto Santos said.