A CALL FOR THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE 115 TH ANIVERSARY OF LABOR DAY
Over 80 million persons are economically active today in countries other than their own. Mostly laboring at the bottom of the occupational ladder and with little knowledge of local culture and language. Women make up half or more of the migrant workers in Asia and Latin America and their proportions are rising elsewhere. Migrants who are undocumented or in irregular situations experience worse conditions than others. They may constitute one fifth of the total of foreign workers. (ILO 2004)
In the 2000 ILO Global Report Your Voice at Work, migrant workers are identified as one of the groups denied the right to organize in law or in practice. Even when legal hurdles do not exist, migrant workers face particular difficulties due to lack of knowledge of their rights, fear of encountering problems with their employers or the police.
Despite efforts from Advocates and migrant workers, there are still receiving countries who oppose the unionization of migrant workers among them Taiwan and Korea. In Korea, cases have been reported of union leaders arrest for protesting the deportation of undocumented migrant workers.
Migrant Forum in Asia strongly believes that ensuring migrant workers rights to freedom of association is a fundamental step towards the realization of their basic human and labor rights. Through organization and representation, migrant workers are able to bring out their concerns, identify violations, access channels for grievances and redress, and promote better protection.
In this year’s anniversary of labor day, the Migrant Forum in Asia would like to urge both sending and receiving countries to:
- Adhere to the ILO Programme of Decent Work
- Uphold the right to full non discriminatory employment rights set by legally enforceable contract of employment including minimum wages, rest days and holidays, decent hours of work, clear identification of responsibilities, privacy and social welfare benefits;
- Promote the ratification and effective implementation of ILO Conventions No. 87 on Freedom of Association, No. 97 on Migration for Employment, No 143, Migrant Workers Supplementary Provisions, and the UN Migrant Workers Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families;
- To establish and implement best practices in recruitment including the “joint and solidarity liability” of employment and recruitment agencies.
- To take concrete measures that would promote the equality of treatment of migrant workers and eliminate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the workplace;
- To consider primarily the safety and human rights protection of all migrant workers in the implementation of national security measures and to
- Provide appropriate assistance and services to facilitate the sustainable reintegration of migrant workers in their home countries.
- Migrant Forum in Asia
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Migrant
Forum in Asia
59-B Malumanay Street, Teachers' Village
Quezon City, Metro Manila 1104,
The Philippines
Phone: (63-2) 4333508
Fax: (63-2) 4331292
Email: mfa@pacific.net.hk
Web: www.mfasia.org |
