ETNIC MINORITY , INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND RACIAL JUSTICE

NOVEMBER 18, 2005
BEVERLY HOTEL, KOTA KINABALU, SABAH.

FORMATION OF A NETWORK TO COMMIT TO ADDRESS THE EMERGING CONCERNS OF THE STATELESS AND UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN IN SABAH

61 participants from 24 Organizations and communities from Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia & Singapore came together from 16-18 November to address the plight, the conditions and the realities of the over 10,000 stateless and undocumented children in the state of Sabah, Malaysia organized by Tenaganita, Christian Conference of Asia – Urban and Rural Mission (CCA-URM), Asia Pacific Mission on Migration (APMM).

Malaysia is a well developed nation within the region with its economy, still vibrant as reflected in its foreign labor demand in almost every sector of the economy. Sabah, though its wealth is shrinking but is still very rich in resources. Sabah is also nestled between Mindanao of the Philippines and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Historically, Sabah has been a very strategic place for trading and thus high mobility of people. This region also has similar groups of indigenous communities who have formed their own social networks and links.

But with the increased unjust forms of globalization that brings about increased poverty and inequalities in the region, especially in the Philippines and Indonesia with growing political conflicts and socio- economic crisis, people are forced to migrate to search for a form of living and employment that can help their families to survive. The forced migration of the people has made them vulnerable to recruiters and human traffickers who through unscrupulous means, supported by corruption of some local officials, bring them into Sabah for employment. This has resulted in waves of migration during different periods in the last 30 years. The situation is exacerbated with the high costs of recruitment and work permit for employment, the lack of transparency, resulting in increased the number of undocumented migrant workers and children.

The issue of stateless/undocumented children is complex with various new decisions made on the documents that gives them their identity either as refugees or as documented migrant workers. Due to the frequent new decisions made by authorities, many communities of people hold on to any document that they have with the belief that they would get citizenship.

There are four distinct groups of children today: children of refugees who are identified through the IMM 13; children of locals who have not been registered; children of migrant workers both documented and undocumented and stateless children. But children are children and they can be a very positive potential force for nation building through education and social welfare care. Therefore, the conference agreed that it will take into consideration ALL children who are either stateless or undocumented. The number is unclear as there has not been an open and transparent effort through an enabling environment to obtain information for a commitment with political will for programs, access to education health and social welfare.

Concerns were made over the changing behavior of the children as their vulnerability increases in the absence of education and social support mechanisms. Children as young as 5 years were smoking, while working hard to eke a living; were beginning to take alcohol and very young girls becoming vulnerable to syndicates and human traffickers. If this situation is not addressed, Sabah will face a time bomb where the social unrest that will emerge will be difficult to control. There is a need to right the wrong. We can no longer drag our feet, keep the issue alive for political gain and create dissent that will only end in a backlash for all people in Sabah and in the sub region.

While there have been initiatives to help the children through education programs, there remains a great fear among organizations that the authorities would use the Immigration Act to charge them for harbouring illegals. There is therefore a need for dialogue and policy advocacy with the relevant authorities for a common understanding in order to motivate various groups to develop interventions for the positive growth of the children.

However, since the children are also from Philippines and Indonesia, there has to be regional cooperation and commitment from the governments to address the emerging concerns of the stateless children. Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia have all ascended and ratified the UN Convention on Rights of Children (CRC). These the countries are obliged to protect and promote the rights of the stateless and undocumented children in Sabah. But this phenomenon of undocumented children is not just a problem with Sabah but throughout Asia. A key right that must be addressed immediately is the right of the child to education. The Malaysian government therefore must remove its reservation on this article in the CRC. The removal of the reservation will be the first sign of the Malaysian government in its efforts to address the rising social problem from the large number of stateless and undocumented children. Education will lay the foundation steadily decreases diseases and to other forms of behavior change. Though there have been new initiatives in addressing the abandoned children, there is a concern that the action to identify the children ahs been through a process where the children have ended in detention. Such forms of actions will only drive the children away from a response.

Besides addressing the need for education of children, we need to recognize the continuous growth of the children in terms of their well being. There is a need to create an enabling environment whereby the children can have access to basic health care without costs. The provision of basic health care or primary health care will not only benefit the children but also the whole community in Sabah as it will reduce epidemics, spread of infectious diseases and eventually cost in health care.

The political will to address the issue will also reduce the discrimination, exploitation and marginalization of the children. This will also change the way the children are perceived and the negative imaging of the children through the media. It will pave the way for understanding, collaboration and nation building with good governance.

The programs and initiatives for change must be complemented by border controls; revision of recruitment laws and policies for foreign labor particularly the single entry policy; bridge the gaps in communication and in policy development between the federal and the state. The role of the federal government is crucial for such a process to set in.

Similarly, the Philippine and Indonesian governments can no longer close an eye to the growing needs of the children. There is a dire need for the two governments to strengthen the consular services and to reach out to their nationals with a greater effort especially in the interior areas to reduce the undocumented children and their parents.

Recognizing that the rights of children must be protected and cannot be compromised where education will form the foundation for the development of the children, we the participants agree to form a network for the stateless and undocumented children of Sabah to move forward to bring change through the following recommendations:

1. All children born in Malaysia be given Birth Certificates and accorded citizenship. The National Registration Department should take on an active registration exercise to reach out to the community in an attempt to educate, provide information and process late registrations, including remote localities by mobile units.
2. Right to free education to be awarded to all children including vocational training and skills development programs to better integrate them into the labour force of various sectors to contribute to the growth and stability of the community and state.
3. Strengthening of the monitoring and enforcement of child labour and trafficking.
4. Facilitation of the adoption and reunification process of the child with immediate family members.
5. A nationwide collective based research in an attempt to estimate the size of undocumented and stateless children.
6. A special tripartite task force (private sector, NGOs & government agencies) to be established to address the issues at hand.
7. The Federal/State government to invite UNICEF to initiate a process of interventions and development of programs for the children.
8. Urge government to provide physical spaces for stateless/undocumented children in plantations and urban areas to ensure their education and social development
9. Amnesty to NGOs working with migrant communities
10. Conduct coordinated campaigns in 3 countries – Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. The campaign will include lobbying with national government agencies as well as the parliaments, media events and protest actions. International agencies such as the UNHCR and UNICEF will be encourage to take part in the campaign
11. Call for an ASEAN Summit on Children – This will be one of the major expected results of the coordinated campaigns.
12. Maintain and develop existing networks such as the one established in 2004 during the CCA and WCC conference on undocumented children held in Kuala Lumpur and the 2003 Regional Conference on Undocumented Migrants organized by TENAGANITA, APMM and MIGRANTE.
13. Conduct monitoring of the UNCRC implementation in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia
14. For the NGO’s based in the Philippines – campaign to push the Philippine government to establish Consular office in Sabah will be held.
15. That the government of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia conduct collaborative and coordinative efforts in doing census on the population of undocumented migrants including children in Malaysia. As a strategy and in order to ensure the active participations of Filipinos and Indonesian undocumented migrants, their respective government should take the lead in doing the census.