Sondos Alqattan

In the video, originally posted in Arabic on July 10, 2018, Alqattan questioned the government move to protect workers: "The new laws that have been passed are like a pathetic film," CNN quotes her as saying. "For her 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."{{Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/20/middleeast/kuwait-philippines-domestic-workers-intl/index.html|title=Kuwaiti Instagram star slams days off for Filipino domestic workers|author1=Tamara Qiblawi |author2=Gianluca Mezzofiore|work=CNN|access-date=2018-07-26}} The Guardian quoted the post, "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."{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sondos-alqattan-beauty-blogger-kuwait-filipino-migrants-racist-post-instagram-a8457036.html|title=Kuwait beauty blogger slammed for 'racist' post about Filipino migrants|work=The Independent|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-GB}}

The new regulations, introduced as a result of an agreement signed between the governments of Kuwait and the Philippines,{{Cite news|url=https://theglobalobservatory.org/2018/03/labor-laws-domestic-workers-gulf/|title=Working for Labor Laws to Protect Domestic Workers in the Gulf|work=IPI Global Observatory|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-US}} allow maids a weekly day off, the right to retain their passports rather than have the documents held by their employers (their 'sponsors') and the right to transfer their visas to another employer. Kuwaiti law also mandates a maid will work 12 hours a day, with a one-hour break, be provided a personal mobile phone with internet connection and be given an annual holiday of 22 days. Employers pay a $2,000 deposit against the maid's visa, as well as government registration fees of some $2,000.

The new agreement was the direct result of an incident in which a Filipina maid working in Kuwait, Joanna Demafelis, was killed and her mutilated body stored in a freezer for a year. The maid's employer, a Lebanese man, was sentenced to death in April 2018 for her murder.{{Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/03/middleeast/kuwait-philippines-maid-murder-sentence-intl/index.html|title=Couple sentenced to death for murder of Filipina maid found in freezer|first=Bard |last=Wilkinson|work=CNN|access-date=2018-07-26}} The incident prompted Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, to order workers in Kuwait to return to their home country and ban the deployment of new workers to the country. Some 250,000 Filipinos live and work in Kuwait.{{Cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/slain-filipina-in-freezer-shows-risks-to-overseas-workers/news-story/df9f3e1e04f1b61e9ecba883bd80360b|title='She was so kind to all of us'|work=NewsComAu|access-date=2018-07-26}}

Alqattan's original video prompted an international outcry{{Cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosebuchanan/this-kuwaiti-instagram-star-is-being-dragged-after-she-said|title=This Arab Celebrity Is Being Called Out For Saying Domestic Workers Shouldn't Get A Day Off|work=BuzzFeed News|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en}} and extensive media coverage.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/23/kuwaiti-social-media-star-dropped-cosmetics-brands-bemoaning/|title=Kuwaiti social media star dropped by cosmetics brands after bemoaning days off for domestic workers|last=al-Atrush|first=Samer|date=2018-07-23|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxlife.it/2018/07/25/sondos-alqattan-polemica-domestici-schiavi/|title=L'influencer Sondos Alqattan vede i domestici come schiavi: è polemica|date=2018-07-25|work=FoxLife|access-date=2018-07-26|language=it-IT}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/1.5707433|title=Aufregung um Influencerin: Die Schöne und die Sklaven|last=Hermann|first=Rainer|work=FAZ.NET|access-date=2018-07-26|language=de|issn=0174-4909}}

In response, Alqattan posted an unapologetic statement to Instagram, which intensified criticism.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44933748|title=Kuwait outcry over Instagram Filipino post|date=2018-07-24|agency=BBC News|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-GB}} In further comments made to news agency AFP, she stated that the outcry was "unjustified" and did not require an apology.{{Cite news|url=https://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/kuwait/kuwait-influencer-not-sorry-for-filipino-worker-remark-1.2255987|title=Kuwait influencer not sorry for Filipino worker remark|agency=AFP|date=2018-07-23|work=GulfNews|access-date=2018-07-26}} Her original video has since been deleted,{{Cite news|url=https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/kuwaiti-beauty-blogger-sondos-alqattan-facing-social-media-backlash-over-controversial-video/news-story/8559508eff2fe7d53db3cd2742d4a9a3|title='I don't want a Filipino maid any more'|work=NewsComAu|access-date=2018-07-26}} although copies remain posted on YouTube.{{Citation|last=leehanee f|title=سندس القطان تصف قانون العاملات الفليبينيات بـ"المسخرة".. وترفض إعطاءهن يوم إجازة!|date=2018-07-10|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEwT7eiVpSI|access-date=2018-07-26}} She has been quoted as saying the backlash against her is a "foreign media campaign" against her and "an attack on Islam, the Hijab and Kuwait".{{Cite news|url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/culture-society/401509-criticism-of-me-is-attack-on-kuwait-hijab-says-sondos-al-qattan|title=Criticism of me is attack on Kuwait and Hijab, says Sondos Al Qattan|work=ArabianBusiness.com|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en}}

Following the backlash, a number of beauty brands disavowed her comments and announced they would no longer work with her, including Max Factor,{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/mac-cosmetics-releases-statement-denouncing-kuwaiti-influencer-sondos-al-qattan-1.753973|title=MAC Cosmetics releases statement denouncing Kuwaiti influencer Sondos Al Qattan|work=The National|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en}} Shiseido, Phyto, MAC Cosmetics, M. Micallef and Chelsea Beautique.{{Cite news|url=https://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/retail/brands-begin-to-cut-ties-with-controversial-kuwaiti-influencer-1.2255738|title=Brands begin to cut ties with controversial Kuwaiti influencer|author=Ed Clowes|date=2018-07-23|work=GulfNews|access-date=2018-07-26}}

However, it appears she remains an active force in Middle Eastern online media, reputedly with Christian Dior. Repeated calls from media to Dior to enquire about its association with Alqattan have been ignored. In a subsequent statement, Christian Dior clarified that it does not have a business relationship with Al Qattan and stated that she attended their fashion show strictly in a private capacity.{{cite web |url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/style/406335-christian-dior-does-not-have-any-business-relationship-kuwaiti-blogger-sondos-al-qattan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016070348/https://www.arabianbusiness.com/style/406335-christian-dior-does-not-have-any-business-relationship-kuwaiti-blogger-sondos-al-qattan |archive-date=2018-10-16 |title=Christian Dior 'does not have any business relationship' with Kuwaiti blogger Sondos Al Qattan - ArabianBusiness.com}} {{Cite news|url=https://www.arabianbusiness.com/article/406264|title=Controversial blogger Sondos Alqattan invited by Christian Dior to Paris fashion show|work=ArabianBusiness.com|access-date=2018-10-15|language=en}}

• 2018 Kuwait–Philippine diplomatic crisis, former diplomatic tensions between Kuwait and the Philippines which resulted in new Kuwaiti laws regarding the treatment of Filipino workers.
• Ascia AKF

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Category:Living people

Category:People from Kuwait City

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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)