The harsh deportation of Michel Catuira from South Korea last Labor Day is a brazenly repressive act by its government, and shamelessly violates all norms of human rights and social justice as applied to migrants and workers. This shows to what extent the government in Seoul is willing to go to stifle democratic rights in the country, including trampling on its own laws and universally-recognized statutes on human rights.
Last May 1, Catuira arrived at the Incheon International Airport after visiting relatives in the Philippines. Upon presentation of his G1 visa that entitles him to reentry in South Korea while his case is being heard by the local courts, he was told that his previous blacklisted status had not been rescinded, despite getting a later favorable decision from the courts. No amount of self-pleading and of intervention from his lawyer were able to sway the immigration officers, who virtually manhandled him into taking a flight back to Manila that very same day.
On the international level, there are conventions and agreements that should provide protection to the rights of marriage migrants as migrants and also as women. These include provisions under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women.
However, these conventions are not followed or made as frameworks by host countries in formulating their policies on marriage migrants. These policies remain to be essentially restrictive and discriminatory.
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants sees the move of the Singaporean government to grant foreign domestic workers one rest day per week a positive step towards the recognition andrespect of domestic workers’ rights.
Such a policy, once implemented, will provide FDWs in Singapore the much needed yet long-overdue right to day-off. However, Singapore, a country known for its restrictive policies and curbed democracy, has a long way to go in providing better working conditions for migrant workers, especially foreign domestic workers.
