APMM
A study on Filipino foreign domestic workers in global cities, entitled "Globalization, Labor Export and Resistance" has come out as a book recently in the US. Written by Prof. Ligaya Lindio-McGovern and published by Routledge, the volume "examines the aggressive implementation of neoliberal policies of globalization in the Philippines, and how labor export has become a contradictory feature of the country's international political economy while being contested from below."
Further strengthen the movement to counter the GFMD!
Continue to resist commodification of labor and modern-day slavery!
International Migrants Alliance (IMA)
01 December 2011
Since its inception up to its current fifth run, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) has never professed genuine concern for migrant workers and their families.
In fact, it has only been faithful to its neoliberal design of using migration as a tool to perpetuate the domination of the world’s superpowers – chiefly the United States – and sustain the unjust world order through the continued commodification of migrant labor and the modern-day slavery of migrant workers.
This year’s theme, “Taking Action on Migration and Development – Coherence, Capacity and Cooperation”, is about as vague as it is grandiose.
The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in its 5th year stands at the crossroads of its existence as a “platform for dialogue and cooperation on international migration and development”. It must bridge the gap between its self-perception and what the most important stakeholders in the process – the migrant workers – see it to be. It must also respond to the fundamental question of its relevance to the whole migration dynamic.
Women marriage migrants unite with women in all sectors around the globe in commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November this year.
Violence against women emanates from the country of origin that perpetuates poverty resulting in marriage migration.
Last September 30, Malaysia was the venue for migrant-serving institutions, grassroots migrant organizations, service providers and migrants’ rights advocates to gather and hold the regional consultation to discuss how they can advance the human rights of undocumented migrants in the Asia Pacific. Discussing at length the developments by which migrants are subjected to unjust and inhumane working conditions that make them eventually undocumented, by which they are illegal and virtually hunted down like hardened criminals.
We, the migrant domestic workers groups, NGOs and regional networks, present our recommendations to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on the rights of all women foreign domestic workers, documented and undocumented.
Firstly, we would like to express our appreciation for the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. However, we are concerned that large numbers of migrants are currently excluded from its protection and therefore strongly urge the inclusion of undocumented migrants and families of all migrants.
As far as Hong Kong population statistics, the nearly 300,000 foreign domestic workers (284,901 as of November 2010) who live and work here are counted as 1) part of the Hong Kong population and 2) as part of the Hong Kong workforce. They are among the 3,710,400 female residents, and 3,763,000 total workforce in Hong Kong (as of mid-2011).
Thus they represent 7.5% of our whole workforce, about 15% of our female workforce. Do we give them equal protection for their safety as women, compared to the rest of the female workforce? How do we ensure this? The Hong Kong government and conservative groups in Hong Kong proclaim what great benefits we give them ‘already’ – i.e., the minimum salary (which in reality tends to be the maximum salary) – HK$3,740 per month, and ‘so many other things’: food and lodging, a return air ticket and one day off per week.
As the Right of Abode debate heats up in Hong Kong, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) would like to make its stand clear: we believe the principal issue at hand is not the unequal application of the Right of Abode law itself, but the Hong Kong government’s long-running policy of social exclusion vis-à-vis the city’s migrant workers.
Barring the territory’s 200,000-odd foreign domestic workers (FDWs) from this statute’s coverage is just one of the Hong Kong government’s many discriminatory acts against migrant workers. Others have been the New Conditions of Stay, the ban on Nepali migrants and the exclusion of FDWs from the Statutory Minimum Wage. Such cases of institutionalized social exclusion cast doubt on the Legislative Council’s ability to uphold international standards on human rights and labor migration, and also give it the dubious distinction of being one of the most anti-migrant parliaments in East Asia. This, despite governing a constituency that has been heavily dependent on the underpaid ministrations of FDWs for the last three decades.
The Second General Assembly of the International Migrants Alliance, held on July 3-4 2011, was concluded with an even stronger commitment from its member and participating organizations from across the globe to continue building and strengthening an international movement of migrants and refugees against imperialism.
“We are workers, we are not slaves!” “Si, se puede! (Yes, it is possible!)” “Long live international solidarity!” – these slogans and more reverberated throughout the hall of the momentous event that was aptly themed, “Strengthen and Expand our Movement: Migrants, Resist Intensified Imperialist Attacks, Achieve Victories in Our Struggle.”
One hundred thirty-three participants from 23 countries attended the General Assembly. These countries and territories are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Senegal, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States of America.
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) welcomes the recent adoption of the Domestic Workers’ Convention through the appropriate International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee. We see this as a promising development towards the much-desired passage of this Convention in the June 15-16 plenary of the ongoing International Labour Convention (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.
While this is indeed a milestone of sorts in the long advocacy of domestic workers for international statutes that formally guarantee their rights, it also reveals the obstacles that need to be hurdled in the short term and the hard work ahead that needs to be done in the long term. What the heated debate that preceded the Committee adoption forebodes is that the much sought-after plenary approval will not be a walk in the park, and that EU member representatives will be exerting their utmost to derail the proposed Convention’s passage through plenary. Furthermore, our long experience with international standards tells us that even with the approval of this Convention, governments on both ends of the migration divide will need to accede to it, promulgate pertinent laws that accord to it, and provide the necessary political muscle to implement and enforce such laws.
