Category: Statements
This category cover public statements from APMM and its network.
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…
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…
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…
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.
Stop Violence Against Women, Protect the Rights of Marriage Migrants
By APMM Saturday, 26 November 2011
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.
Report on the Regional Consultation on the Rights of Undocumented Migrants
By APMM Saturday, 26 November 2011
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.
Foreign Domestic Workers' Recommendations to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
By APMM Monday, 24 October 2011
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.
On the Right of Abode for FDWs in Hong Kong: Social Exclusion is the Central Issue
By APMM Wednesday, 10 August 2011
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…
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…
Do not deport Michel Catuira! – Hong Kong migrants and locals call on SK to stop harassing MTU leader
By APMM Friday, 25 February 2011
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) led a picket protest at the South Korean Consulate today, February 25, 2011, condemning its government’s move to revoke Michel Catuira’s visa and have her deported back to the Philippines. Michel is the current chairperson of the Migrants Trade Union (MTU), one of the leading migrants’ organizations in South Korea. She is probably one of the recent leaders with a valid employment visa as her predecessors have been undocumented migrants. For being a militant and pro-migrant organization, MTU has been an easy target of the South Korean government as many of its leaders…
