Activists Urge Asean to End Deadlock on Migrant Workers’ Rights

Jakarta Globe, April 29, 2013

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pose for a
 group photo during the 22nd ASEAN Summit in Bandar Seri Begawan on Thursday.
 The leaders are, from left, Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Singapore’s Prime
 Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Vietnam’s
 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Myanmar’s
 President Thein Sein, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia’s President
 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and
Malaysia’s Senate President Abu Zahar Ujang. (Reuters Photo/Bazuki Muhammad)

A human rights group is urging Asean to conclude a six-year debate on an instrument protecting migrant workers and develop a draft during a meeting this week.

“We, various civil society elements concerned with the protection of the rights of migrant workers, urge the Asean drafting team committee on migrant workers [ACMW] to complete the debate on the Instrument for the Protection for Migrant Workers and Their Families,” a statement issued by the Human Rights Working Group Indonesia (HRWG-Indonesia) said.

The statement also said that the group hoped that the ACMW would complete the discussion during its two-day Asean Forum on Migrant Labor, which kicked off today in Jakarta.

The instrument, it said, was mandated by the Asean Declaration on the Protection of Migrant Workers of January 2007.

The debate on the instrument, involving representatives from the 10 member states of Asean, has been deadlocked over three points — whether the instrument should be legally binding, the definition of the family of migrant workers and whether the protection should be extended to undocumented migrant workers.

“It should be that this instrument of protection is legally binding for all Asean member states,” the HRWG-Indonesia statement said, adding that the 2007 declaration also was binding.

On the two other points, the organization said that the ACMW should refer to the United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which provides a definition of migrant worker families and extends protection to undocumented migrant workers.

“We deem that the debate or negotiations that have been going on for six years, both in substance and in duration, has been going on for far too long, showing that Asean states do not have the good will to protect migrant workers,” the group said.

The group urged the drafting team to complete the instrument as soon as possible, and to uphold human rights standards and various International Labor Organization conventions ratified by Asean member states.

HRWG-Indonesia also called on the government to make the draft instrument available to the public as soon as possible so that concerned citizens and migrant workers can contribute.

The group also pushed for the government “to press for several points in the instruments, including a mechanism for legal assistance and rehabilitation to assist migrant workers who became victims of violence.”