Kuwaiti Instagram star slammed for criticism of domestic worker rights

‘How can I have a servant who keeps their own passport?’: Kuwaiti Instagram star is slammed after posting video criticising new laws that give domestic workers better rights

  • Sondos Alqattan was outraged that ‘servants’ would get one day off every week
  • The make-up artist said she no longer wanted a Filipino maid following reforms
  • Alqattan posted a video of her angry rant, filmed in a luxury car, to social media
  • Migrante International said she sounded like ‘slave owner’ with ‘dark ages’ views

A Kuwaiti Instagram star has been slammed for criticising new laws introduced to improve conditions for Filipino domestic workers.

Make-up artist Sondos Alqattan, who has 2.3million followers, was outraged that ‘servants’ would have a day off every week and be allowed to keep their passports.

She posted her furious rant online and it has since gone viral, attracting critical comments from social media users in the Middle East and Philippines.

‘How can you have a servant at home who keeps their own passport with them?’ she raged, adding: ‘What’s worse is they have one day off every week.’

She continued: ‘If they run away and go back to their country, who will refund me? Honestly I disagree with this law. I don’t want a Filipino maid any more.’


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Reforms were introduced in May to protect the rights of Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait, which lies between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

The agreement followed months of strained diplomatic relations between the two countries over treatment of overseas employees.


Sondos Alqattan ranting about reforms introduced in May to improve conditions for Filipino domestic workers

In February, the Philippines issued a temporary ban on workers travelling to Kuwait after a 29-year-old Filipino was found mutilated in a freezer in an abandoned flat.

Make-up artist and Instagram star Alqattan has 3.2million followers

Alqattan’s video, which she filmed while sitting in the front seat of a luxurious car, provoked uproar.

Migrante International, an advocacy group for overseas Filipino workers, said she sounded like ‘a slave owner’, the Guardian report.

It added that the social media icon had ‘a backward outlook which literally belongs to the dark ages’.

Critics are demanding that Alqattan’s sponsors drop their lucrative endorsement deals with her.

Brands that she has worked with in the past include Max Factor and MAC Cosmetics.

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