Migrants’ Group Urges Israel to Stop Deportation of Philippine Children

Migrante Middle East has urged the Israeli government to halt plans to deport 1200 children born to undocumented migrant workers. The organization has called on the government to uphold the rights of immigrants as laid out in the UN Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Members of their families. .

Many of the children in question were born to migrant women from the Philippines.

The Philippine Embassy has said that it will comply with demands to deport the children, despite calls from rights groups to oppose the crackdown. “The (Philippine) Embassy (in Tel Aviv) has made representations with the Israeli government about the imminent deportation of Filipino children, and we were informed by the Foreign Ministry that it will be handled in the most humane way possible and in the best interest of our two countries,” Petronila Garcia, Philippine Ambassador to Israel, said in a statement that appeared on the Embassy’s website this week (see story here)

However, Migrante Middle East argues that the deportations are a gross violation of human rights.

Here is an extract from an interview John Leonard Monterona, Regional Director of Migrante Middle East, in CBCP news earlier this week:

“A fellow OFW, who requested to anonymity for protection, said that the crackdown has started in July 2009, via its Interior Ministry Office. The crackdown has targeted immigrants who are either refugees or asylum seekers,” he told CBCPNews.

“But this was not the case in 2006,” says Monterona. “During that time, around 400 to 500 children, together with their parents, were granted citizenship thus entitling them to all the rights and benefits under the existing laws in Israel. However, when Pres. Benjamin Netanyahu came into power, he reversed the earlier policy granting these immigrants the rights to become citizens of Israel.”

Monterona also told CBCPNews that tension grips the Filipino communities in Israel, as undocumented Filipino workers there fear for their safety and of their children as the crackdown continues.

The migrant leaders said that many of the undocumented Filipino workers, most of them are women, are formerly caregivers or domestic helpers, whose contracts had already expired.

“But they have decided to become TNT’s (a Filipino slang, means tago nang tago or hiding from authorities because of their undocumented status). Their life as TNTs is totally a gamble. The only advantage is they are with their families and somehow, they are not suffering from economic hardships, unlike if they will go back in the Philippines where opportunities are scarce,” he said.

Full text of the article here.

Monterona laments that the Philippine Embassy has kept quiet about the issue. Migrante Middle East now plans to approach the Catholic Church of the Holy land to get support for the legalization of undocumented migrant workers.