Legal framework, cooperation needed to help migrant workers
Legal framework, cooperation needed to help migrant workers
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The implementation of international legal frameworks and
bilateral cooperation are needed to help exploited and abused
women migrant workers, a regional workshop on protecting women
migrant workers in Asia said on Tuesday.
The workshop, jointly organized by the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration and the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM), emphasized the implementation of international
conventions, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW committee member Sjamsiah Achmad said the implementation
of international conventions and an understanding of domestic
legislation were important to help solve workers' problems.
"Besides legal frameworks, regional and bilateral cooperation
is also significant to solve problems related to migrant
workers," Sjamsiah told the conference attended by government
representatives from labor-exporting countries like Indonesia,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Receiving countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore
were conspicuously absent from the three-day conference.
Non-governmental organization activists and experts from
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Jordan and South Korea also attended the
workshop, which was officially opened by Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, UNIFEM regional chief Kunzang Chungyalpa said in
her speech that women, who made up more than half of Asia's 20
million migrant workers, often faced exploitation and serious
abuse.
"Social and cultural attitudes, combined with labor market
segmentation, result in underpayment and exploitation of women
workers, often exposing them to serious human rights violations,"
Chungyalpa said.
According to Chungyalpa, total remittances from all migrant
workers to Asia's developing countries stood at around US$80
billion last year, surpassing foreign direct investment for the
first time.
She said women could take pride in their economic
contribution, but governments had to develop policies to ensure
women were empowered to deal with vulnerable situations.
Unless social and human rights issues were addressed, she
said, the ultimate social cost of migration might outweigh its
economic benefits.
Alan Boulton, Jakarta director of the International Labor
Organization (ILO), spoke of a "catalog of abuse and exploitation
of migrant workers who contribute $1.1 billion to $2.2 billion
annually in earnings to Indonesia.
"Even though there has been a vast increase over the last 10
years in the number of migrant workers, the authorities have
generally failed to provide proper standards of protection for
these workers," Boulton was quoted by AFP as saying.
There was still too much corruption in the various stages of
the labor migration process, he said.
However, manpower ministry director general for migrant
workers Gusti Made Arka argued that the government had made
considerable efforts to protect migrant workers, who totaled
480,393 people last year.
Arka also revealed that recently the government had issued a
joint decree signed by seven ministers to set up an advocacy team
for protecting migrant workers.
Last month, the country's media headlines were marked by the
return of dozens of women migrant workers from Saudi Arabia, many
of whom had reportedly been unpaid, abused or raped.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The implementation of international legal frameworks and
bilateral cooperation are needed to help exploited and abused
women migrant workers, a regional workshop on protecting women
migrant workers in Asia said on Tuesday.
The workshop, jointly organized by the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration and the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM), emphasized the implementation of international
conventions, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW committee member Sjamsiah Achmad said the implementation
of international conventions and an understanding of domestic
legislation were important to help solve workers' problems.
"Besides legal frameworks, regional and bilateral cooperation
is also significant to solve problems related to migrant
workers," Sjamsiah told the conference attended by government
representatives from labor-exporting countries like Indonesia,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Receiving countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore
were conspicuously absent from the three-day conference.
Non-governmental organization activists and experts from
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Jordan and South Korea also attended the
workshop, which was officially opened by Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, UNIFEM regional chief Kunzang Chungyalpa said in
her speech that women, who made up more than half of Asia's 20
million migrant workers, often faced exploitation and serious
abuse.
"Social and cultural attitudes, combined with labor market
segmentation, result in underpayment and exploitation of women
workers, often exposing them to serious human rights violations,"
Chungyalpa said.
According to Chungyalpa, total remittances from all migrant
workers to Asia's developing countries stood at around US$80
billion last year, surpassing foreign direct investment for the
first time.
She said women could take pride in their economic
contribution, but governments had to develop policies to ensure
women were empowered to deal with vulnerable situations.
Unless social and human rights issues were addressed, she
said, the ultimate social cost of migration might outweigh its
economic benefits.
Alan Boulton, Jakarta director of the International Labor
Organization (ILO), spoke of a "catalog of abuse and exploitation
of migrant workers who contribute $1.1 billion to $2.2 billion
annually in earnings to Indonesia.
"Even though there has been a vast increase over the last 10
years in the number of migrant workers, the authorities have
generally failed to provide proper standards of protection for
these workers," Boulton was quoted by AFP as saying.
There was still too much corruption in the various stages of
the labor migration process, he said.
However, manpower ministry director general for migrant
workers Gusti Made Arka argued that the government had made
considerable efforts to protect migrant workers, who totaled
480,393 people last year.
Arka also revealed that recently the government had issued a
joint decree signed by seven ministers to set up an advocacy team
for protecting migrant workers.
Last month, the country's media headlines were marked by the
return of dozens of women migrant workers from Saudi Arabia, many
of whom had reportedly been unpaid, abused or raped.