The theme of this meeting is, “Sustaining Regional Cooperation Toward Improved Management of Labor Mobility in Asia.” Last week, organizers extended a few invitations to civil society representatives to observe some sessions but they will not be allowed to speak. Civil society will hold a parallel consultation process to discuss their recommendations for governments.
“Increased regional cooperation is essential for improving protection of migrant workers’ rights,” said William Gois, regional coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia, a regional network of more than 200 migrants’ rights groups in Asia.”But as civil society, we want to know what is going on, we want to be part of the process, and we demand opportunities for genuine participation.”
The governments will discuss the draft for a “2012 Framework of Regional Collaboration of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue,” which would commit them to taking domestic, bilateral, and multilateral measures to increase the benefits of international labor migration. The draft is based on the input from the first dialogue and a meeting of senior officials in January. Preparatory documents for the conference include examples of best practices and recommendations on government oversight of four stages of migration: recruitment, employment abroad, preparation for return, and reintegration.
“The draft framework contains many positive elements that could help reduce recruitment-related exploitation and workplace abuse of contractual migrant workers,” said Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. “But it should also call on governments to revise labor laws and immigration policies that contribute to abuse, especially the exclusion of domestic workers from labor codes and sponsorship systems that link a worker’s residency to his or her employer.”
Migrant workers play a key economic role. They fill labor demands in host countries and provide much-needed income for their own countries. In 2011, the World Bank estimates, Asian migrants sent home US$191 billion in remittances. Gulf countries in particular rely heavily on Asian contract labor; for example, there is approximately one migrant domestic worker for every two Kuwaiti citizens. Migrants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have provided the labor for construction booms in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
But many migrants are at high risk of abuse, the groups said. Domestic workers are excluded from basic labor protections such as a weekly rest day and limits to working hours. Many migrants have limited information about their rights and face abuses such as deception about their jobs, heavy debt burdens from excessive recruitment fees, unpaid wages, and hazardous work conditions. Limited access to redress means that some get trapped in situations of forced labor and trafficking.
Find out more here: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/asiamiddle-east-increase-protections-for-migrant-workers?
On 28 March, Hong Kong’s court of appeal overturned a previous landmark ruling that had opened the door for thousands of foreign maids to claim residence in Hong Kong.
The lawyers of Evangeline Vallejos, who had brought the case to court, said they would take the case — the first of its kind in Asia — all the way to the Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong’s highest court.
“The interpretation of the law creates a second-class citizen,” counsel Mark Daly told AFP. ”We will continue on to the Court of Final Appeal until we get justice.”
Rights advocates said the ruling sent the wrong message to other Asian nations that relied on poorly paid maids from less wealthy countries to toil at jobs locals no longer wanted to do. Hong Kong has around 300,000 foreign domestic helpers mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines.
Recently came across this very interesting initiative: Tribunal 12
Inspired by the International War Crimes Tribunal that was formed by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre in 1967, Tribunal 12 sets out to locate the moral, legal and political responsibilities as well as call for a change within the European asylum, migration and border system.
Tribunal 12 advocates a change within the European system that currently treats people who flee to Europe disrespectfully and exposes them to systematic violations.
In order to achieve this, Tribunal 12 sets out to make visible what refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are experiencing in their encounter with Europe and:
- Investigate whether human rights are violated.
- Expose the hidden structures that allow for the inhumane treatment of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
- Locate the moral, legal and political responsibility for the current situation in Europe.
THE TRIBUNAL SESSIONS
Tribunal 12 will present four sessions focusing on: border control, the asylum process, undocumented migrants, and detention & deportation. Each session is introduced and led by a prosecutor who will present evidence that may consist of witness statements, expert presentations, statistics, reports and stories. Artistic expressions will form an integral part of the tribunal and the sessions will have a dramaturgical framework. Members of the jury are internationally acclaimed persons active within the fields of philosophy, international law, literature, arts and activism:
Nawal El Saadawi, Saskia Sassen, Nuruddin Farah, Sadik J. Al-Azm, Henning Mankell, Parvin Ardalan, B.S. Chimni
Date: 12 May, 2012
Location: Sergels torg & Kulturhuset in Stockholm and all over Europe.
More info, a call for evidence, flyers can be found on www.tribunal12.org
The New York Times reports on the struggle to protect domestic workers, an overlooked group of 100 million people, many of them female migrant workers. Some progress has been made since an international treaty to protect domestic workers was signed in June 2011: a Hong Kong Court struck down a law that excluded domestic workers from residency rights, and regions and countries around the globe pass laws to establish the vital principles of the convention which human rights campaigners call a “watershed”. However, many migrant workers servicing in the households of the rich are still suffering from violence, abuse and exploitation.
On Friday 7 October eight Bangladeshi nationals were executed in Saudi Arabia, according to a report by Amnesty International. The migrant workers were beheaded in public. They were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of an Egyptian man in April 2007. Since the end of the holy month of Ramadan executions have resumed in Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate. The recent beheadings bring the number of executions in this year to at least 58. Twenty of those executed in 2011 were foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from poor and developing countries who often have no defence lawyer and are unable to follow court proceedings in Arabic.
On 21 September 2011 Human Rights Watch published a report assessing the role of the EU border agency Frontex and its Rapid Border Intervention Team at the Greek-Turkish land border. The watchdog claims that Frontex exposes migrants to “abusive conditions” by sending them to overcrowded detention centres in Greece. The report is based on interviews with 65 migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Greece as well as on field visits in detention centres in the Evros region during winter 2010/11.
