Kuwait asks Philippine ambassador to leave within a week and declares persona non-grata

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had notified the Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa that he is persona non-grata in the country asking him to return home in a week.

The ministry, which also declared recalling the State of Kuwait Ambassador to the Philippines for consultation, said its action against the top Filipino envoy was in retaliation for undiplomatic acts by Philippine embassy staff, encouraging Filipino domestic workers to flee employers’ households.

The ministry, in an official statement, renewed its utter rejection and condemnation of the Philippine embassy “flagrant and grave breach of rules and regulations that govern diplomatic action, where staff helped Filipina house helpers run away.” The ministry termed such illegal acts as blatant violation of the State of Kuwait law, international covenants and charters, tantamount to intervention in the state domestic affairs and meddling in jurisdictions of the security apparatuses.
These acts also constitute flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, namely Provision 41 that bars infringement on individuals’ prerogatives and immunities, respecting states’ laws and non-intervening in their local affairs.

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry statement noted that Philippine officials stated that the foreign ministry of the Asian nation dispatched “reinforcements to the embassy in Kuwait; comprised of seven teams affiliated with the foreign undersecretary for labor in immigration at pretext of rescuing female housemaids in Kuwait.” “The State of Kuwait Government affirms that such acts and statements constitute explicit breach of international principles and covenants,” the official statement said.

These acts had prompted the ministry to summon the Philippine ambassador twice, lodging with him complaints expressing the State of Kuwait extreme dismay and denunciation of such dangerous transgressions, coupled with an explicit request that the embassy deliver names of the Filipinos who had committed the offense of smuggling Filipina workers in three months.

“However this duration has passed without any response from the embassy.” The Government of the State of Kuwait, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in line with its duties and responsibilities toward acts against the country sovereignty, regulations and security, affirms that it along with the concerned security apparatuses will continue tracking down those who assailed the country security and prosecute them according to relevant international diplomatic laws.
Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to consider the Philippine ambassador to the State of Kuwait persona non-grata according to Provision 9 of the Vienna Convention, thus he must leave the country in maximum one week.

Secondly, the department is calling back the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines for consultation.

The ministry affirmed “determination to move from this extraordinary situation toward wider horizons of solid and joint relations as part of the historic and deep-rooted ties between the two countries.” Furthermore, it emphasized necessity of tackling the issue “with wisdom and prudence, without any negative and harmful media sensationalism for sake of attaining the common aspiration toward distinctive and sound bilateral relations between the two friendly counties.” Kuwait and the Philippines established diplomatic relations in 1979.