Statement of the APWLD Labour and Migration Task Force

Violence against women migrant workers in the form of trafficking, forced labour, unjust imprisonment, torture, and other forms of physical, psychological or sexual abuse, is escalating within Asia Pacific.

December 18 (the day on which the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was adopted by the UN) was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2000, as a day for reflection on the struggles of all migrant workers, a day to share and disseminate information on their current situations, and a day for states to make commitments to future efforts to ensure respect for migrant workers human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Despite the entrance into force of the Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in July 2003, and despite the recognition of the specific rights of migrants in various International Treaties and Conventions such as ILO Migration for Employment Convention and ILO Migrant Workers Convention, governments in the Asia-Pacific Region continue to be negligent in adopting national legal measures, or multi-lateral and bi-lateral agreements that give full protection of the rights of migrants and which address ongoing situations of exploitation, violence and abuse.

Today, there are over 86 million migrant workers worldwide; about half of these are women. In Asia Pacific alone there are more than 25 million women migrants workers and these numbers are on the rise. In the wake of globalisation, the trend within the Region has been towards state adoption of policies of trade liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation. This has created an environment in which the trade of women migrant workers is more often being used by governments as a solution to address other failed attempts to rectify long term problems of unemployment and unstable national economies. At the same time, while receiving countries continue to benefit from women migrant workers as a source of “cheap and flexible labour”, governments in the Region are moving towards increasingly restrictive immigration and labour policies as part of “national security measures”. Consequently, migrant workers in the Asia Pacific are confronted with an increase in migration policies and agreements within and between states which are anti-migrant in their orientation, and which further constrain their ability to assert their rights to fair, equitable and decent work.

Within this context, thousands of women migrant workers continue to leave their home countries every year in search of overseas employment in order to sustain their families and communities. Many are forced to relocate as a consequence of a lack of work, and as a result of increasing poverty, internal conflict, and reduced access to services in their countries of origin. The failure of governments in the Region to provide equal work opportunities for women has further contributed to the burden of poverty increasingly falling on women’s shoulders and has in turn led to more and more women migrating.

Women migrant workers from the Asia Pacific Region constitute the largest number of “unskilled” workers in receiving countries. They are employed primarily as domestic workers, as sex workers and in factories. Their work goes largely unrecognised and they are more likely to face barriers in hiring, wages and other benefits than their male counterparts. These women are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in various forms because of the conditions of their work, their relative isolation and temporary status, and their inability to access mechanisms for defending their rights.

On the International Migrants Day, APWLD expresses solidarity with migrant workers across the Region in their struggles to secure recognition of and respect for their work and their rights. It joins with migrant workers and groups advocating on their behalf to demand that governments across the Region end the exploitation, violence and abuse towards these workers. It calls on all Governments in the Region to:

Ratify all international treaties and conventions which aim to protect the rights of migrants and their families;

Review all existing anti-migrant policies, practices and procedures and develop new bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements on labour based on internationally accepted norms and principles of human rights;

Address the roots of exploitation and violence towards women migrant workers such as poverty, lack of equal opportunity and discrimination in employment and access to legal remedies;

Implement mechanisms to prosecute perpetrators of violence against migrant workers which occurs inside and outside the workplace, and provide victims with full redress; and

Give complete and non-discriminatory employment rights to all migrant workers which recognise their contributions and respect their entitlement to work free from fear of all forms of violence and abuse.