E/CN.4/2003/85/Add.4 page 7 7. According to official data, an estimated 7.4 million Filipinos, representing approximately 10 per cent of the country’s total population, work in more than 150 countries on practically all the continents. Contract workers make up 40 per cent of the total number of migrants, while 35 per cent are permanent residents of the countries in which they work and 25 per cent are undocumented migrants. 8. CFO informed the Special Rapporteur that permanent migration is directed to the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Spain and Japan. The number of temporary migrants has increased over the years. It is estimated that around 2,375 workers leave the country daily. Emigration to Asia slightly decreased owing to the effects of the economic setbacks experienced by Asian countries, although Japan and Singapore continue to be among the favourite destinations. In 2001, about 866,000 Filipino migrants were living in the Middle East, in particular Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. 9. The Special Rapporteur was informed that Filipinos living abroad are a major source of income. They infuse capital into the country through remittances, investments and other forms of contributions. According to CFO, such remittances have contributed significantly to keeping the accounts deficit manageable and to stabilizing the economy. Filipinos overseas remitted US$ 6,230,000,000 in 2001. 10. The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act was enacted on 7 June 1995. The same year, the Government ratified the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in the wake of the public furore over the case of Flora Contemplación, a Filipina domestic worker accused of and sentenced to death for the murder of another Filipina domestic worker in Singapore. 11. The Special Rapporteur noticed that in spite of the existence of a sophisticated labour-export management system aimed at protecting the human rights of Filipino migrants, incidents of abuse and exploitation against overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) throughout the migration process continue to be reported. 12. According to OWWA statistics provided to the Special Rapporteur, the most common welfare cases refer to: (a) in Europe - repatriation, imprisonment, health-related problems, documents-related problems, personal problems, poor working and living conditions, delays in or non-payment of wages, failures to provide medical insurance, legal counselling, restrictive regulations on freedom of movement and association, exploitative or abusive employers, especially of workers whose permits have expired; (b) in Asia - the bribing of illegal recruiters to arrange for a migrant’s stay, trafficking of workers for the sex trade, delays in or non-payment of wages, heavy workload, lack of food, denial of rest days, substitution of contracts, inadequate accommodation, physical violence, and psychological abuse; (c) in the Middle East and Africa overwork by domestic workers, non-payment of wages, difficulties in adjusting to a new environment, reduced and delayed wages, illegal transfer to other employers, contract substitution, reduction of wages, refusal to repatriate upon expiration of contract, mistreatment, poor living conditions, denial of rest days and physical as well as sexual abuse.