Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers

Jakarta, 3 - 5 May 2011 – The 7th ASEAN Civil Society Conference / ASEAN Peoples' Forum workshop on the Implementation of the Rights of Migrant Workers was participated by more then 100 civil society representatives.

The Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers (TFAMW) strongly supports the commitment of ASEAN to fully implement the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers and pledges to continuously engage with ASEAN, as civil society partners, on efforts to bring the promise of the Declaration to full fruition.

The TFAMW deems it critical that cooperation be developed among governments in countries of origin, transit and destination, and among non-governmental organizations, civil society and trade unions, and migrants workers organizations. Only through such cooperation can we ensure the ASEAN Declaration (and the forthcoming ASEAN Instrument) are effectively implemented, and monitored by migrants workers who have been made aware of their rights.

As ASEAN moves towards its goal of economic integration by 2015, it is both important and timely that these processes of protection for migrant workers are now moving rapidly forward. We believe that a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached between the labour sending and labour receiving nations of ASEAN which will ensure that migrant workers are given a fair deal which includes respect for their rights and effective protective mechanisms, in accordance with the vision of ASEAN as a sharing and caring community in which all persons are valued.

The TFAMW formally submitted the civil society "ASEAN Framework Instrument for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers" to the ASEAN Secretariat on 12 May 2009 during the 6th ASEAN Senior Officials Labour Meeting (SLOM) held in Vientiane, Lao PDR. This document would certainly be very useful as a tool and reference material for the ACMW in drafting the instrument.

TFAMW believes that the ASEAN Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers which is to be adopted by the ASEAN Governments should be a legally binding and encompass all migrant workers.

The Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers (TFAMW) welcomes the recently concluded 18th ASEAN Summit decision on Migrant Workers under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community reaffirming the commitment to implement the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers adopted at the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2007.

For more information:

The Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers http://www.workersconnection.org

ENDS

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