Kuwait expels Philippine ambassador
MINISTRY SLAMS VIOLATION OF DIPLOMATIC NORMS, RECALLS ITS ENVOY FROM MANILA
Kuwait declared the Philippine ambassador persona non grata and gave him one week to leave the country. It also recalled its envoy in Manila for consultations, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry reiterated in a statement its full rejection and condemnation of the blatant violation of diplomatic norms by the embassy of the Philippines in Kuwait.
Embassy staff and others helped Filipina house workers flee the homes of their employers in a blatant challenge to the laws of Kuwait, and in violation of international conventions, the ministry said.
The activities by the embassy were deemed as interference in the internal affairs of the country and obstruction of the tasks of its security agencies, it added.
Kuwait also rejected statements by Philippine officials that the foreign ministry sent reinforcements to its embassy in Kuwait, consisting of seven teams that they allegedly tasked with “rescuing” domestic workers in Kuwait, the statement said. Kuwait said it saw such acts and statements as clear violations of international principles and norms; the foreign ministry twice summoned the ambassador and gave him two protest notes expressing Kuwait’s opposition to the violations.
Kuwait also asked the Philippine ambassador to provide within three days the names of Filipino residents who kidnapped the women workers. However, the embassy failed to provide the names.
“Kuwait stresses determination to overcome this exceptional situation and move towards wider horizons of close ties within the framework of the historical and deep relations between the two countries,” the statement said.
AKuwaiti lawmaker has called for an investigation to understand the “circumstances of the suspicious, rapid and successive changes adopted by the Philippines towards Kuwait.”
This came just before Kuwait yesterday expelled the Philippines ambassador and recalled its own from Manila over a growing diplomatic dispute regarding the abuse of Filipina housemaids and workers in the country.
“The case of house workers is just a façade for other issues that include business deals, commissions and commercial contracts between officials in Kuwait and some sides in the Philippines,” MP Mubarak Al Hajraf said.
‘Pressure’
“What is happening is some kind of pressure under the claim of dealing with house workers,” he said without elaborating in a statement carried by Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas yesterday.
“Expelling the ambassador of the Philippines is a correct measure,” conservative lawmaker Shuaib Al Muwaizri wrote on Twitter. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should not accept any offers made by the Philippines president or his foreign affairs secretary.”