Challenges
CHIA cited that the Asean pact only brought more challenges to protect these workers mostly in dirty, demeaning, and dangerous jobs.
Studies have noted that domestic helpers are vulnerable to sexual and physical violence while several cases of riots occurred in construction projects involving Asian foreign workers.
Gois says he is worried that the rights of low-skilled workers in Asean will not be protected.
He cited as example MFAs documentation of Malaysias continued crackdown of undocumented migrants.
Inputs by Vijayakumari Kanapathy of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia reveal there would be an increase in the number of migrant workers in his country.
Kanapathy said that while his country classifies contract migrant workers as semi-skilled and unskilled for foreign workers, Malaysia will face a structural demand for foreign workers and the demand for low-skilled labor is seldom eliminated (to favor) more skilled workers.
Still, the Asean declaration outlines duties and obligations that member-countries that send and receive foreign labor should abide by to protect and respect migrant workers rights.
Among these duties is for receiving countries to provide migrant workers who may be victims of discrimination, abuse, exploitation, and violence with adequate access to the legal and judicial system of the receiving states.
Heads of states signed the declaration, including Prime Ministers Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia, whose countries are the leading destinations of migrant workers and immigrants in the region.
Among Asean countries, the Philippines is the only one that ratified the United Nations Migrant Workers Convention, in July 1995. Indonesias and Cambodias governments signed the Convention both on September 2004, that being the first step to ratify a UN treaty.
But Chia said the pact only covers the management of highly-skilled migrants and expatriates.
Developing countries will be challenged to negotiate with host countries [so that] other types of workers will be accommodated, not just business people and health professionals, Chia said at a forum organized by EADN and the Philippine Institute of Development Studies.
Pinoy Life Abroad
