Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos,
who represented the Philippines in the talks, said some members of the 10-nation
bloc had expressed reservations over the mention of "families" in the
draft document.
<P>He did not identify the countries. Negotiations will continue
today to try to reach some sort of agreement. Conejos expressed confidence that
the issue was just a "matter of terminology" and was not serious enough
to hold back the signing of the declaration.</P><P>The Cebu Declaration on the
Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant workers was to be one of the
major documents to be signed in the 12th Summit of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations this weekend.</P><P>"They just don’t want to get the impression
across that they are welcoming families because, under their domestic laws, when
you say ‘migrant workers,’ it’s the workers and not the family," Conejos
told reporters upon emerging from yesterday’s meeting of Asean senior officials.</P><P>"On
the other hand," he said, "it was articulated there are instances when,
for example, domestic workers abroad gets married or raise a family there."</P><P>Such
scenarios are possible even if the workers originally had "no intention of
bringing their families with them," he noted. "So, shall we separate
them?" he asked – citing the "argument’s pro and con" that were
raised during the discussion.</P><P>The officials were reduced to arguing over
line-by-line changes to the statement yesterday, with nations at odds over extending
rights to the families of immigrant workers, one official said.</P><P>"The
whole issue of migrant labour in Southeast Asia is a minefield of problems,"
the official said.</P><P>He said Indonesian insistence on including "migrant
workers and their families" was being strongly resisted by Singapore and
Malaysia, two of the region’s biggest recipients of migrant labour.</P><P>Human
rights and labour groups around the region have called on Asean to improve the
pay and conditions of migrant workers, many of whom are exploited and paid low
wages.</P><P>William Gois, regional coordinator for Migrant Forum in Asia, said
migrant workers were the "backbone" of the region’s economic success
but at the same time were treated miserably.</P><P>"The problem for Asean
is to come up with a document that will be taken seriously and incorporate labour
standards including freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain
collectively, and eliminate all forms of discrimination at the workplace,"
he said.</P><P>"Asean should also recognize that its people are not tradable
commodities."</P><P>Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and
Vietnam are the region’s main suppliers of labour, providing skilled and unskilled
workers, while Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Thailand are among the major recipients.</P><P>Gois
said no one knows how many legal and illegal migrant workers there are in Southeast
Asia but said it was "reasonable to assume that the figure would be many
millions."</P><P>He added: "Countries like Singapore and Malaysia are
heavily dependent on migrant labour. Without them their economies would face serious
problems."</P><P>He said the number of undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia
from Indonesia, the Philippines and Burma probably topped 200,000.</P><P>"Nearly
all those working on Malaysia’s rubber plantations are migrant workers, while
countries like Singapore seek out skilled technical people," he said.</P><P>Gois
said Asean should recognize the contributions made by millions of migrant workers
to the economies of its members.</P><P><I>Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=115928</I>
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