26 May 2015 – A consular team from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, led by Philippine Minister and Consul General Robert O. Ferrer, Jr. met with Mr. Serhan Aktoprak, Project Officer and Officer-In-Charge of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and his team on May 15 at the IOM Office in Baku, Azerbaijan.  

Mr. Aktoprak updated the Embassy team about the legislation in Azerbaijan affecting migrant workers, especially as those working as household service workers (HSWs), nannies or cleaners are not categorized or recognized as such under Azeri law.

Unlike highly skilled workers for whom appropriate permits are issued, HSWs, nannies or cleaners are unrecognized categories for foreign workers.  Thus, no permit can be issued to any migrant workers working as HSWs. It was noted by IOM, however, that Azeri employers who prefer migrant workers in their households were able to circumvent the regulations by applying for different types of work permit for their HSWs such as fictional office-related positions, such animators, ‘interpreters’, and non-existent staff titles.

Mr. Aktoprak shared the Embassy’s concern over Filipinos who have accepted these employment conditions, as they are the most vulnerable to exploitation. For the IOM, until regulations are enacted to allow migrant workers to work under HSW job classifications, the deployment of migrant workers to Azerbaijan for these types of employment should be discouraged.

According to the latest Report to Congress, many Filipino nannies and HSWs are being recruited from Dubai and brought to Azerbaijan via Georgia, from where it is easy to cross the land border into Azerbaijan. They are then given false job titles and unregulated sub-par contracts, which do not provide many Filipinos with health insurance, proper residence permits, and job security. END