Iraq–Philippines relations refers to the bilateral ties between

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Formal relations were established on January 12, 1975.

Diplomatic mission

The Philippines and Iraq formally established diplomatic relations on January 12, 1975, with the opening of the Iraqi Embassy in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. This was followed by the opening of the Philippine Embassy in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

on September 9, 1980. Due to security concerns, the Philippines moved its embassy to Amman in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

in 2004 while Iraq closed its embassy in Manila in September 2003. The Philippine Embassy returned to its chancery in Baghdad in November 2011.

Iraq War

The Philippines contributed troops to the United States-led Multi-National Force in Iraq in 2003. After an

Overseas Filipino Worker Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million be ...

by the name of

Angelo dela Cruz Angelo is an Italian language, Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298– ...

was kidnapped and threatened with death by militants, the Philippine Government decided to move the scheduled end of the tour of duty of its contingent a few weeks early. Iraq and the United States expressed their disapproval for the withdrawal and described it as "giving in to terrorist demands" despite respecting the Philippines decision on the matter.

Labor relations

Due to security concerns, the Philippines banned the deployment of workers to Iraq in December 2007. The Philippines partially lifted its ban in 2012 by sending workers to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

. In 2013, the Philippines lifted the ban on the deployment of workers to Iraq except to the Iraqi provinces of Anbar, Nineveh and Kirkuk. In 2014, the Philippines imposed a total deployment ban to Iraq following the capture by the

Daesh An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

of Mosul and other key cities in Iraq. The ban was partially lifted in 2018 to allow the return of workers from vacation under the Balik Manggawa Program. In 2020, the total ban on all Filipino workers, notably household service workers, was reinstated, during the US-Iran conflict following the assassination of Qasem Sulaimani and Iran's retaliation with missiles towards US facilities in Iraq in 2020. A mandatory repatriation of Filipinos was undertaken by Philippine Embassy in Iraq's Chargè d’Affairès Jomar T. Sadie. A total of 1,640 Filipinos live and work in Iraq. Documented workers number at 1,190 while undocumented workers are estimated at 450, many of whom are victims of human trafficking. In 2019 Chargè d’Affairès Sadie pushed for the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Combating Human Trafficking that will cover protection of victims, and prosecution of perpetrators.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iraq-Philippines relations

Bilateral relations of the Philippines