One very important topic that the Philippines has advocated on is the protection of the rights of temporary foreign workers. One tenth of the Philippine population live and work overseas, many of whom work in many countries as temporary foreign workers. The Philippine government has always been at the forefront of many efforts to ensure the protection of temporary foreign workers.
We are thus very appreciative of the work of the Senate committee that did a study on the rights of temporary foreign workers. We just met with Senator Ratna Omidvar last week, and we have committed our assistance in providing whatever information they may need. She spoke to many Filipino temporary foreign workers in Canada.
It may also interest you to know that the Philippines is, I believe, the only country in the world that has both labour officers and welfare officers embedded in our embassies and consulates to make sure that the rights of our temporary foreign workers working abroad are adequately protected. Like they are in Canada, many of our temporary foreign workers are women in the caregiving sector.