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Labour and Migration

2004


It is a well-known fact in the tide of economic globalisation that many households now depend on women’s labour and income. This has led to a feminisation of migration in Asia, spanning over three decades. In Cambodia, the government has a policy to send Cambodian women to Malaysia as domestic helpers. Between 1998 and April 2001, it was reported that a total of 506 domestic helpers were sent to work in Malaysia alone. In 1975, statistics for Philippine migrant workers shows that women make up a mere 12% of total overseas workers. Fifteen years later, they have equalled the number of men and in 1999, Filipino women migrant workers make up 64% of total deployment (Philippine Report on Domestic Workers May 2001). Similar trends have been identified in Indonesia and countries in the region.

From figures listed above, the majority of women migrant workers are employed as domestic workers and in the sex industry. Women labourers who work in their respective countries are confined in the informal sector or are concentrated in free trade zones and other sub-standard places of employment. These occupations render women vulnerable to violence of various kinds because of the conditions in their work. Yet, they are the hardest group to reach and assist. The Labour and Migration (L&M) Programme therefore will focus on addressing the lack of legal protection and human rights standards for women migrant workers and those employed under sub-standard working conditions.

The objectives of the L&M programme for 2003 – 2005 are:

• To develop an acceptable working definition of "domestic work" with APWLD members and partners towards the State recognition of domestic work as work;
• To strengthen efforts of APWLD members and partners to build alliances at regional and international levels for the recognition of migrant domestic workers' rights;
• To identify and expose exploitative and discriminatory policies and laws in the context of globalisation affecting women workers in the tax free zones in Asia Pacific.

Activity:	Participation at the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
Date:	7 – 17 April 2003
Venue:	Geneva, Switzerland
Key strategies:	Lobbying and Advocacy
APWLD Participants:	Tati Krisnawaty, India Connie Regalado, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, Hong Kong Vani Dulaki , Mary Jane Real, APWLD Secretariat
Key Actions:	Meetings with government delegates, migrants’ groups Participation at Dialogue with UN Special Rapporteurs and UN Officials Distribution of Statement on Two-Week Rule Handover of 150,000 signatures on Abolition of Two Week Rule to UN Special Rapporteur for Migrants Rights
Organiser:	Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants; Asia Migrants Coordinating Body
Funders:	Sida, Novib, Hivos

Participation in this forum is to support the campaign of national partners in Hong Kong who are calling for the abolishment for the Two-Week Rule, an aspect of the New Conditions of Stay Policy or NCS. The NCS is a policy put into place by the Hong Kong SAR government to protect the local labour force. The rule states that any migrant worker, whose contract has terminated or expired, has only two weeks to stay in Hong Kong otherwise s/he will be considered an illegal migrant. This rule provides no exception to accommodate different circumstances, particularly of women migrant domestic workers, who may have been terminated unjustly or who may have been able to find a new employer but need time to finalise a contract.

Prior to their participation at the UNCHR session, the L&M Task Force members coordinated a region-wide signature campaign for the abolishment of the two-week rule. This campaign culminated on March 8, at the International Women’s Day, as one of the activities to highlight the continuing discrimination against women in many countries in Asia Pacific. Over 150,000 signatures collected in this campaign were presented to the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrants Rights. As a result, the UN Special Rapporteur has committed to consider the inclusion of this issue in her report at the next session of the UNCHR.

In addition, members of the Labour and Migration Task Force (L&M TF) who attended the UNCHR highlighted this campaign at the Dialogue with UN Special Rapporteurs and other UN Officials, which was organised by APWLD. They circulated a statement on this issue during the session. They also delivered the statement in the form of an oral intervention during the plenary for item 14 on the UNCHR agenda. They also distributed a briefing kit on this issue, which includes specific cases illustrating the violations against migrant women domestic workers under this rule. They had several meetings with government representatives and other migrants’ organisations.

A growing awareness of this campaign was achieved during the UNCHR session, particularly among UN Special Rapporteurs and government delegations from Mexico, Philippines and other countries that are central to the drafting of a resolution on migrants’ rights during the annual session of the UNCHR. The Task Force members were also able to explore possible alliances with other migrants’ groups such as the Migrants’ Rights International based in Geneva, which is a potential partner in the campaign.

In response to a request by the Task Force member from Thailand on the human rights violations committed against women Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, the L&M TF agreed to explore conducting a legal literacy training and setting up legal aid cells near the Thai-Burma border. A questionnaire survey was developed to assess the training needs. The information was collated during the Women’s Exchange Programme, which is conducted once a month as a venue for information-sharing among women groups working on Burmese issues.

In summary, the survey identified the following laws as the priority areas for the Burmese migrant women workers in Thailand: Security Laws; Immigration Laws of Thailand, including application for work permits, access to basic health care and education; Human rights: Women’s rights; sexual and gender based violence; rape laws; trafficking of women and children. Based on the responses to the questionnaire, the L&M TF agreed for MAP to develop a training proposal for women Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, which will be supported under the L&M Programme.

APWLD and CARAM-Asia organised an annual consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants to enable migrant women’s groups in Asia Pacific to contribute to the UN Special Rapporteur’s report to the UN Commission on Human Rights. In the consultation, the UN Special Rapporteur affirmed the commitment she made to focus her 2004 report on migrant domestic workers. She noted the various country reports presented on the situations of migrant domestic workers for inclusion in her report. The report from Indonesia, which was based on national consultations among migrant and domestic workers, was well received by the Special Rapporteur. She also expressed her openness to support the recommendation from the participants for the recognition of domestic work in national legislations.

This is an annual Task Force meeting held back-to-back with the consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants. In the meeting, the Task Force members evaluated the consultation and suggested that it could have included the results of the Regional Summit on Domestic Work organised by CARAM-Asia and other partners in 2002. The Task Force members also reviewed the programme concept paper and matrix of indicators for its 2003 – 2005 activities. They planned their activities and allocated their budget for 2004. Based on the plan, the Task Force prioritised a legal research on defining the minimum human rights standards for domestic work. Activities to continue the advocacy for the recognition of domestic work were also identified, including a follow up consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and a national and regional seminar on accessing UN mechanisms to redress violations against women migrant workers. The Task Force also reviewed its membership and decided to recommend the extension of the terms of current members to ensure continuity in the implementation of the planned activities.




The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants confirmed during the APWLD Dialogue with UN Special Rapporteurs and other UN Representatives that her next report will focus on the rights of migrant domestic workers as a vulnerable group of migrants. At the consultation organised by APWLD and CARAM-Asia, she affirmed such commitment and noted country reports on the situations of women domestic workers for possible inclusion in her report to the UN Commission on Human Rights. Her intent to focus on this group of women workers can be attributed to the constant pressure that APWLD with other groups have made on the need to highlight the violations against women migrant domestic workers particularly in Asia Pacific. Relatedly, the L&M Programme has also influenced other migrants’, women and human rights groups that participated in the consultation to support its campaign for the recognition of domestic work in national legislations.

The L&M Programme has also facilitated the forging of alliances between the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants and the Women Workers’ Union in Chennai, India. The union has expressed its support for the campaign towards the legal recognition of domestic work and a representative of APMM met with the union 1-2 November 2003 to discuss possible collaborative work on this campaign. CARAM-Asia, a regional network on HIV-Aids and Migrants concerns, has also affirmed its partnership with APWLD on this campaign. However, women migrant domestic workers need to further develop and strengthen links with other groups in labour sending countries. Differences in analyses, approaches and strategies between the groups APWLD work with and other migrants’ groups have been a stumbling block in furthering partnership with other groups. To address this, APWLD has negotiated for possible collaboration between APWLD members and other migrants groups based on the issues they are working on, regardless of their political differences.

The Women’s League of Burma, an umbrella organisation of Burmese women’s groups in Thailand, invited APWLD to provide a human rights training for its Women’s Development Course. Vani Dulaki, Programme Officer, conducted the training. The three-day course she conducted included sessions on the role of law, its sources and its impact on women’s lives. It focused on international human rights instruments, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Conducting the course contributed to APWLD’s general objective of promoting awareness of women’s human rights in Asia Pacific.

The L&M Task Force has been working with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation (CHRF) in the implementation of a gender and human rights training for Labour Attachés of sending countries in Asia Pacific. The Labour Attachés are the first point of contact for migrant workers in countries of employment so it is important to enhance their skills and knowledge in promoting and protecting the rights of women migrant workers. Part of the training includes looking at international human rights instruments on migrants’ rights and developing strategies to address the violations perpetrated against women migrant workers in host countries.

The planning meeting was designed to allow partners to develop follow-up projects to the joint production of the UN Road Map, a resource kit on UN instruments and remedies applicable to migrant workers. One follow-up action identified is the need to develop companion materials to extend the UN Road Map to cover national measures available for migrant workers and design a training of trainers’ programme for the use of this resource kit. To complete this project, the L&M Task Force will focus on collating national measures available to migrant workers, particularly women, in seeking redress for violations of their human rights. The research will cover legal measures available in both sending and receiving countries and spanning the entire migration process, i.e., pre-departure, on-site and re-integration.


Programme officer: Vani

The Labour & Migration (L&M) Task Force was instituted by APWLD in 1997. At this point, the broad concerns of APWLD’s focus areas include economic rights, human rights and democracy. For the Labour & Migration task force, the new tide of globalisation sweeping the world and the region shows that many households now depend solely on women’s labour and income. Yet this has not produced sufficient initiatives to ensure betterment in employment and livelihood opportunities for women.

Most governments in the region opt for labour migration as a solution for unemployment problem and economic development. Women migrants from Asia constitute the largest number of unskilled migrant workers in labour receiving countries. These women make a significant contribution to their national economies by their remittances and to the economies of the labour receiving countries. Feminisation of the migration process has been one of the main characteristics of migration in Asia for the past three decades and it deserves particular attention from a gender perspective.

In general, migrant women workers are not given equal access to the law or treated equally under the law in receiving countries. The policy and regulation that exist in both sending and receiving countries merely emphasise the need for fluent stream of migration rather than the promotion and protection of the human rights of migrant workers especially women.
Labour & Migration Task Force

The Task Force consists of organisations from around the Asia Pacific region that are working in the area of Labour and/or Migration. Membership comprises of lawyers and activist from Bangladesh, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand. Past activities of the Task force include:

• Tripartite Conference which brought together Trade Unions, mainstream women’s organisations and migrant women’s organisation to discuss and strategise on future collaborative efforts.
• Regional training programmes for Labour Attaché on gender and human rights in collaboration with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation since 1999 in organising and facilitating for Labour Attaches in the Asia Pacific region.

The Task Force in its annual meeting in 2002 confirmed the need to address issues affecting women workers employed under substandard working and living conditions, unprotected under the law and undocumented. Activities must be able to address issues that affect both national and migrant women workers. Task Force is mandated to look at both Labour & Migration issues as it is important to identify a common cause.