MFA SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES FOR 2005

AUGUST

The Diplomacy Training Program on Migrant Workers Convention was co-organized by the Migrant Forum in Asia and was hosted by its member organizations in Bangladesh, Welfare Association for Repatriated Bangladeshi Employees (WARBE) and Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU).  The course brought together human rights defenders currently working on the rights of migrant workers and trade unionists. The course content focused on the ICRMW in the context of the broader human rights framework, identifying the key challenges to implementing the ICRMW in the Asia–Pacific region and the development of practical advocacy skills.  The course also provided the participants background knowledge about key aspects of the ICRMW and its monitoring and reporting regime. Additionally, the program provided a venue for the participants to develop practical skills in advocacy, lobbying and working with the media to advance migrant workers’ rights.

DTP is The Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) is an independent, non-governmental organization providing human rights education, which seeks to advance human rights and empower civil society in the Asia Pacific region through quality education and training, and the building of skills and capacity in non-governmental organizations. (http://www.dtp.unsw.edu.au)

MFA, as a member of the South East Asian Committee for Advocacy, will be attending the SEACA Strategic Planning and Board Meeting to discuss the specific policy issues that the country/regional caucus will work on together; and discuss the advocacy capacity building gaps in relation to advocacy on policies that will be identified.

SEACA is a programme that focuses on advocacy capacity building of civil society organizations (CSOs) in South East Asia. The SEACA programme is an outcome of a series of consultation processes among CSOs in the South East Asian region and a meeting in Manila in September 1999 attended by representatives of national networks of NGOs and People’s Organizations from eight countries in the region, and Asian regional networks sponsored by the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) and supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom. (www.seaca.net)

MFA, in continuing its partnership with the trade groups, will be participating in the upcoming Regional Assembly of the Jubilee South – Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development. Back-to-back with the Regional Assembly will be a Conference on Development and Aid and a Seminar on GATS and Privatization.

MFA has recently co-organized with the JS-APMDD, together with the Asian Migrant Centre, Coalition for Migrants Rights and Focus on the Global South a regional conference on WTO, development and migration in July 2005 in Hong Kong. (See Conference statement) MFA recognizes the importance of collaboration with the trade groups with regard to its advocacy and campaign against WTO particularly on Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade and Services, which directly impacts on migrant workers.

People's organizations, social and political movements, non-governmental-organizations, and other civil society organizations in Asia and the Pacific formed the Asia/ Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) in October 2000 in Bangkok to pursue a common vision of freedom from debt and freedom from domination.

APMDD is part of the Jubilee South, a network of jubilee and debt groups from more than 35 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia/Pacific, composed of more than 80 national campaigns, movements, organizations and regional networks. 

MFA together with its Indonesian members will be organizing a dialogue among Sending country NGOs and Host Country Trade Unions on August 29-30, 2005 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Sending country NGOs will be represented by MFA members from Indonesia while trade unions will be represented by Singapore National Trade Union Congress (SNTUC) and the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC). The dialogue aims to foster better understanding of actual situations and needs of migrant workers in both sending and host countries, share best practices in safeguarding the rights and welfare of migrant workers and to identify areas for collaboration and develop action plans among migrant NGOs and trade unions.

SEPTEMBER

 MFA’s project on organizing migrant workers in Singapore will take off in September 2005. The program aims to facilitate the organizing of migrant workers in a manner in which they would be able to express their views, issues, and concerns to relevant bodies for a greater appreciation of the mutual benefit of labour migration, and for the introduction of the Migrant Savings for Alternative Investments (MSAI) strategy pioneered in the MFA network, focused towards asset building among migrant workers which is essential for a sustainable reintegration of migrant workers in their home countries. It will also help build a network between support groups in host and home country of migrant workers with the objective to come-up with a coordinated regional (MFA) agenda for an alternative model of development (MSAI –An Asset Building Strategy in the Migration Phenomenon) in the context of increasing labour migration. The program will focus in strengthening and building the capacity of groups and MFA network members in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand and India working on Reintegration programs.

 To further enhance the capacity of migrant workers’ advocates especially the member organizations, MFA had developed an instrument for monitoring and documentation of the abuses against migrant workers and the violations of their rights. The Migrants Rights Violations Reporting System (MRVRS) will help generate indicative factors whereby a society’s / states health can be measured by the way it treats the foreigner in the land. The development of the MRVRS is framed within the over-all context of developing the capacity of MFA member organizations to effectively address the concerns of migrant workers and seek redress for the violations of their rights.

The MRVRS, formatted in a user-friendly and accessible way, aims to serve as a concrete mechanism to develop a common understanding across the region of what comprises migrant workers’ rights and enable systematic documentation of migrants’ rights violations (MRVs). While local organizations can use the system to improve their methods of documentation, the information generated would also form the basis of a regional monitoring and advocacy processes that promote migrant women’s rights.

 As a follow up to the 9 th RCM which highlighted the issues on feminization of migration, MFA, together with its partner in Korea, the Joint Committee on Migrant Workers in Korea (JCMK), is organizing a Women’s Forum which will focus in further analysis of the issues brought about by the feminization of migration. The forum will focus on four focal issues: trafficking in women within the migration framework, intercultural marriages, health and WTO and GATS Mode 4.

OCTOBER

 MFA is planning to hold a workshop in the Association for Women’s Rights and Development (AWID) Women’s Forum and will focus on the feminization of migration and highlight the responses and best practices adopted by those working on migration.

MFA’s participation in the in the 10 th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development will contribute in enhancing the network’s campaign for the promotion of the rights and well being of migrant workers. It will serve as a venue to discuss the issues and challenges faced by women migrant workers. It will also enable women migrant workers and advocates to showcase what they have achieved in terms of advancing the rights of women through organizing and advocacy.