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Kuwaiti Blogger Under Fire for Comments on Domestic Workers

In May, Kuwait and the Philippines inked a deal allowing Filipino workers in the Middle Eastern nation new rights. The recent reforms saw domestic workers given the ability to retain their passports and cell phones, as well as take one day off per week. While the law change made headlines when it was first announced earlier this year, it has recently resurfaced courtesy of a now-viral video made by a Kuwaiti blogger.

Beauty guru Sondos Alqattan, who boasts 2.3 million followers on Instagram alone, has been slammed this week for denouncing the new regulations, questioning a worker’s right to a day off. “For her [domestic worker] to take a day off every week, that’s four days a month. Those are the days that she’ll be out. And we don’t know what she’ll be doing on those days, with her passport on her,” said Alqattan in the now-deleted video, Gulf Business reports. “How can you have a servant at home who gets to keep their passport with them? If they ran away and went back to their country, who’ll refund me? I don’t want a Filipino maid anymore.”

The clip attracted widespread criticism from her fans and followers, though Alqattan has yet to respond to the backlash publicly. The influencer has since disabled comments on her Instagram posts, while many have taken to social media to call for brands that work with Alqattan to boycott the beauty blogger. Migrante Home Office, a group that defends the rights of overseas Filipino workers, has demanded a public apology from Alqattan.

Her comments come just months after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte temporarily banned the nation’s workers from traveling to Kuwait, following the murder of a Filipino maid in the Gulf nation. According to Arabian Business, there are currently more than 250,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, at least 60 per cent of which are domestic workers.

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