In recent weeks, reports have emerged left and right about the deplorable condition of Filipino migrants being violently persecuted, abused, deported, and denied justice and rights. As the global economic crisis intensifies, they are accused of taking away jobs and are being blamed for inflation and rising crime rates in their countries of residence.

In Canada, Japan, and Korea, anti-migrant policies and the worsening culture of racism and xenophobia have intensified the persecution of immigrants.

In Taiwan, 169 rape victims among migrant workers were recorded in the country last year. Twenty-two of the victims were Filipinos. Most of the victims worked in factories and as domestic helpers.

In the US, 143 Filipino seafarers were deported beginning last year. In September, the US embassy in the Philippines canceled already-approved US visas of seafarers set to leave the country. Similar to the deported seafarers, the embassy justified their acts using child pornography allegations that are uninvestigated and lack evidence.

In Thailand, more than a hundred Filipino victims of “scam-hub trafficking” have already reached the Myanmar border and are in urgent need of rescue and immediate action.

In Kuwait, the family of Dafnie Nacalaban, a domestic helper killed by her employer, obtained only token justice. The employer was sentenced to merely 14 years in prison, a light sentence for such a crime.

In The Netherlands, 11 Filipino migrant workers were also denied justice when the Public Prosecution Service dismissed their human trafficking complaint against the Amsterdam-based Saints and Stars Gym.

The migrants’ miserable condition is a direct result of the reactionary Philippine government’s labor export policy. These policies promote Filipino workers to migrate instead of addressing the problems of unemployment, living wages, and decent social services.