Author Topic: ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers  (Read 682 times)

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THE HONORABLE SALVADOR B. BELARO, JR.
1-Ang Edukasyon Party-list
Assistant Majority Leader

A PRAGMATIC VIEW OF THE ASEAN CONSENSUS ON MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS

While the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers is hailed as a step forward, I note that the document is not legally binding and an action plan has yet to be worked out. I note also how it took 10 years for the consensus to be forged and evolve since the Cebu Declaration.

“The ASEAN Consensus stipulates the general principles, fundamental rights of migrant workers and members of their families, specific rights of migrant workers, obligations and commitments of ASEAN Member States. It aims to establish a framework for closer cooperation among member states on addressing migrant workers’ issues in the region. While it is non-legally binding, the ASEAN Consensus is considered a living and evolving document.” (ASEAN website).

Add to these concerns the fact that among the ASEAN Member-Countries, only the Philippines and Indonesia have ratified the UN Convention on Migrant Workers. Cambodia is a signatory but has not yet ratified the convention. The other ASEAN Members did not sign on to the UN convention. Timor-Leste, which applied to join ASEAN in 2011 and is a dialogue partner of the regional grouping for now, ratified the convention in January 2004.

If the other ASEAN countries ratify the UN convention, that would be more reassuring to the migrant workers across the region.

There are about 212 thousand Filipino migrant workers in Southeast Asia. It would surely be better for their welfare if their host countries have migrant protection laws like the ones the Philippines has: RA 8042 (Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995) and RA 10022 which amended and improved RA 8042.

“The ASEAN Consensus is the result of extensive discussions, information sharing, and constructive negotiations since 2009 under the leadership of the ASEAN Labor Ministers,” according to the ASEAN website.

Sounds like it would take probably take at least another 10 years for the other ASEAN countries to enact migrant worker laws similar to those of the Philippines.

In the meantime, As Member of the House Committee on East ASEAN Growth Area, I urge the Department of Labor and Employment to further enhance its protection measures and procedures for the protection of Filipino migrant workers wherever they may be deployed.

Congress can, for its part, network with legislators of ASEAN and present the Philippines’ migrant worker laws as a model piece of national legislation. (END)

REFERENCES:

http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2010/03/10/republic-act-no-10022-s-2010/
http://www.poea.gov.ph/laws&rules/files/Migrant%20Workers%20Act%20of%201995%20(RA%208042).html
http://asean.org/asean-leaders-commit-safeguard-rights-migrant-workers/
http://asean.org/?static_post=asean-declaration-on-the-protection-and-promotion-of-the-rights-of-migrant-workers
https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/161239-philippines-asean-treaty-migrant-workers
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/asean-mps-call-stronger-protections-migrants-and-refugees
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/162455/asean-leaders-forge-accord-protect-regions-migrant-workers
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/international-migration/international-migration-convention/
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=080000028004b0a9&clang=_en
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CMW.aspx
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-13&chapter=4&clang=_en
https://treaties.un.org/doc/source/docs/A_RES_45_158-E.pdf

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