asia journalism focusa publication of the temasek foundation asia journalism forum

MIGRATION REPORTING

Telling the inconvenient stories

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration2 3

THE EVENTThe 2015 Temasek Foundation Asia Journalism Forum

conference and workshop on "Reporting Migration" was

held in Singapore from 13-15 August. It was organised by

Nanyang Technological University's Wee Kim Wee School

of Communication and Information and S. Rajaratnam

School of International Studies, and Hong Kong Baptist

University's School of Communication. THE PUBLICATIONEDITOR: Sue-Ann Chia REPORTERS: Charmaine Ng, Cynthia Choo, Godwin Ng, Lee Rou Urn DESIGNER: Charmaine Ng PHOTOGRAPHER: Leong Wai Leong PRINTER: Seng Lee PressISBN: 978-981-09-7568-5, 978-981-09-7567-8PUBLISHED BY:

Asia Journalism Forum, c/o Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University, 31 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637718. Email: admin@ajf.sg

IN AUGUST 2015, more than 100 journalists, academics and activists across Asia gathered in Singapore to discuss the top trends and issues in covering the migration crisis.

There were many stories shared and lessons learnt. What came through was that migration is not always a pretty picture. For some, their lives are filled with suffering and exploitation. But amid the sadness is also some glimmer of hope for others who have survived or found a better life. The key is how to tell these inconvenient stories with the right words.

Here are some of the main points that were raised during the Forum, organised by Temasek Foundation, Nanyang Technological University and Hong Kong Baptist University.

1. Cover all ground: It is complex topic with many perspectives that is also coloured by racial and religious overtones, but journalists have a duty to cover all the moral issues. Be fair and objective, but also take a stand for what is right. Peoples lives are at stake.

FROM THE EDITOR 2. Saying it right: Migrants are called many things, from refugees, asylum seekers, boat people, to even illegals. It is important for journalists to use the right terms to describe them and the issue, as it shapes the national narrative and closes the empathy gap between migrants and citizens.

3. Humanise, not demonise: The issue can easily give rise to feelings of xenophobia and even tip into hate speech, if it is not reported objectively and sensitively. The media has a responsibility to prevent corrosive and hate speech from taking root in society.

4. Report the issue: Get people to pay attention to the plight of migrants, some of whom are victims of trafficking, by reporting the issue extensively and probing the persisting problem. This could help ease the problem, where only 0.04 per cent of trafficked cases are solved.

5. Give migrants a voice: It is good to hear what migrants have to say about their life and circumstances, in their own words. While some can share their experiences directly with the public, others require journalists to go on the ground and seek out their stories, not just of sorrow but also of survival.

SUE-ANN CHIA

INSIDEPichai Chuensuksawadi: How to cover the story of the year - the migrant crisis

Ben Doherty: The power of words in shaping national narrative on migrants

John Erni: Why the word "we" can be a form of racism

Vitit Muntarbhorn: The right response to hate speeches

Tan Tarn How: Call out the xenophobe or racist

Harsh Mander: Combating an empathy deficit

On the ground with Camelia Nathaniel: Resettling those displaced from the civil war in Sri Lanka

Matt Friedman: Human trafficking is modern day slavery

Sallie Yea: Sharing the sob stories

Victims or survivors?: The portrayal of refugees in the media

Aidan White: 5 tips for migration reporting

On the ground with Sim Chi Yin: The underbelly of Chinese migration

Mohan J Dutta: Respect migrants' rights

Meeting the migrants: Touring a dormitory for low-skilled foreign workers

The local-foreign divide: How the term "expat" creates a mental divide

On the ground with Chong Zi Liang and Zakaria Zainal: A look at the Gurkha community in Singapore

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Asia Journalism Fellowship participants and other visiting journalists with one of the workshop leaders, Aidan White.

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration4 5

Covering the story of the year: The migrant crisis Pichai Chuensuksawadi (left), editor-in-chief of Bangkok Post, urges journalists to cover migration's moral issues and not let personal biases stop them from taking a stand on what is right.

The plight of the boat people is complicated and has many dimensions. And this poses a huge challenge to journalists in producing fair and bal-anced reports on this massive migration issue, said edi-tor-in-chief of the Bangkok Post Pichai Chuensuksawadi.

Complexity, however, is not an excuse for the media to deviate from covering the moral issues in the on-going refugee crisis of stateless Rohingya people, he stressed.

For instance, religious and ethnic issues often colour coverage of the Rohingya issue in Myanmar.

We need to reflect religious and ethnic sentiments. But we shouldnt let these sentiments (stop us) from tak-ing a stand from what is right, he said at the annual Asia Journalism Forum which focused on migration reporting this year.

We shouldnt be distracted from reminding our view-ers or readers that fellow human beings, men and women and children are vulnerable, are being abused and are be-ing trafficked.The veteran editor, who writes regularly on the topic

of migration and human trafficking, is keenly aware of the constraints faced by journalists to reflect all perspec-tives of this multi-faceted issue that Europe also faces

with the influx of migrants and refugees from North Af-rica and Syria.

A key problem is the lack of understanding, even for some Thai journalists located in the country which trig-gered the story of the year with the discovery of mass graves belonging to Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in a camp on the Thai-Malaysian border in early May.

Heres the thing: Its not new, he said, referring to the years of human trafficking that was taking place from Myanmars Rakhine state to the region, particularly to support Thailands fishing industry.

Rohingya migrants, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, are usually smuggled by boat to the south of Thailand. Once in the Thai jungle, they are detained in camps by traffickers who are awaiting payment of ransoms. Many end up in forced labour in Thailand and Malaysia.

Human trafficking in Thailand has long been a prob-lem. Last year, the US State Department downgraded Thailand to the worst possible ranking tier 3 in its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. It said Thailand is a source, a transit point and a destination for trafficking.This prompted Thai authorities to crack down on the

trafficking route, which triggered a regional crisis. To elude the police patrols, smugglers refused to land on shore, effectively holding up to 8,000 Rohingya and Ban-gladeshi migrants hostage at sea without adequate food, water and sanitation, said Mr Chuensuksawadi.

What prevents journalists in Thailand from obtain-ing a complete picture of the regional issue, he shared, is their heavy reliance on government statements rather than working the ground to discover the problems for themselves.

I think were at fault for accepting too easily an-nouncements from government agencies, for example, that hu-man trafficking has improved. Repeatedly, whenever there was a Trafficking in Persons report coming out, the foreign min-istry will say theyve made im-provements, he noted. The difficulty in understand-

ing the true extent of human trafficking can also be attribut-ed to the involvement of many government agencies, from the police to social welfare agencies, that causes confusion.

Quite honestly, its overwhelming for journalists to cover this topic if they dont have the right contacts or the time to do the proper research, he said.

One way to get a clearer picture is to get out (of the office) more and do the work on the ground.

Another challenge in producing fair and objective reports of human trafficking in Thailand is the weak re-lationship between journalists and non-governmental sources for information. Many times, journalists lack regular contact with international agencies representing a global perspective in covering stories like migration. This basically means were missing out on a very crucial piece

of the puzzle in the story, he said. Nationalist sentiments in Thailand also play an influ-

ential role in skewing coverage of human trafficking in the country, he added, citing an example of how a gov-ernment agency tried to plant a story with one of the younger reporters.

Basically, the plant was there was a European non-governmental organisation criticising Thailand for illegal fishing, citing human rights abuses because they were working to favour a European country that was a competitor of Thailand in the industry. And if Thailand

gets hit, this country would benefit, he said. Fortunate-ly, we realised that the story sounded fishy.

Such nationalistic attitudes divert attention away from the problem of human trafficking. He used the example of how the setting up of a dedicated court to handle human trafficking cases after the Tier 3 downgrade led to some people questioning why Thailand had to implement

such measures to appease the US. But that was not the point, he said. Because of this

mindset, it was how things were reported. This is where journalists play a critical role, he added.

Instead of fueling such distractions, journalists should be focusing on the actual issue while reflecting as many views as possible in a fair and balanced manner, includ-ing nationalist, religious and ethnic sentiments, even if they disagree with them.

If we stay this course, then maybe journalism can make a difference not only for the victims, but going beyond the crisis to the societies that we serve. CHARMAINE NG

We shouldn't be distracted from reminding our viewers or readers that fellow human beings, men and women and children are vulnerable, are being abused and are being trafficked.

PICHAI CHUENSUKSAWADIon journalists taking a stand

There is a lack of independent and free reporting about the Rohingya situation in Myanmar, which results the lack of knowledge and misinformation about Rohingyas. Not only is the government censoring the use of the word Rohingya, our newsroom has received threats from the public our readers when we have used the term in the past. Therefore, we have had to use the term Bengalis sometimes.YE NI, MyanmarEditor, Irrawaddy News

JOURNALISTS VOICES

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration6 7

THE POWER OF WORDS

Journalists should be conscious of the language they repeat in their reports on refugees or asylum seekers as words have the power to shape perceptions, said Guardian Australias award-winning immigration correspondent Ben Doherty.

Thirty years ago, they were called refugees. Today, they are called illegals. Previously, they needed to be rescued. Now, there is a war to keep them out.

Using the right words will close the empathy gap between migrants and citizens, and avoid helping politicians manipulate the narratives of these migrants, added Mr Doherty who is based in Sydney.

In Australia, the media are describing refugees as illegals. But the media didnt come up with this (label) by themselves, he said. They are merely following the countrys legislation which refers to refugees as illegals.

Since journalists repeat such language in the media, the official discourse on refugees is inevitably shaped by the Australian government as an issue of border protection and a threat to national security, he added.

Citing a recent example, he said the effort to keep out such migrants was compared to a war by the government with the word war used prominently in a newspaper headline.

This has several implications, such as encouraging the condemnation of these people, said Mr Doherty who was twice awarded Australias highest journalism honour and writes extensively on child and forced labour including the movement of refugees.

Ministers and their public relations say asylum seekers could be murderers or terrorists, and report that poor villagers are coming into Australia in

uncontrollable floods, he noted.It is a form of propaganda, he added, used by politicians

to create narratives of these refugees to suit the governments agenda. The long-term effect of these narratives is the creation of stereotypes that are tough to undo once established.

And so, journalists should be conscious of and question the language of politicians rather than simply replicating it in their reports.

Is it sufficient for journalists to stand behind the shield of so-called accuracy and impartially a mentality that the government said it so, and we will report it uncritically with the language which is provided? he argued.

Journalism must report the statements of the government, but they cannot report only those views or without interrogation.

While reporters need to resist pressure to reproduce narratives created by those in power and educate themselves on the legal terms used in migration issues, he said editors should also question if their organisations have represented these migrants accurately.

Journalists, he added, can be influential in bridging the empathy gap by writing stories that humanise, instead of demonise, individuals who are seeking refuge.

The reporting of migration as an issue of a huge mass of people makes it very difficult to truly understand the nature of

this migration, he said.Journalists need to

approach the issue with empathy themselves, with a willingness to see another point of view and above all, approach the issue on an individual level.

Each story as a person, and each person as a story. CHARMAINE NG

EVERYONE uses words like We every day without sparing much thought about its connotations. But John Nguyet Erni wants people to think twice about saying it as the innocuous word may contain undercurrents of racism.

When someone proclaims We, Americans or We, Hong Kongers, the making of that proclamation, when underlined by the ideology of nationalism, draws the line between whos inside and whos outside, said Erni, Chair Professor in Hu-manities and Department Head of Humanities & Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Such declarations of We-ness constitute hate speech in the cultural, social and anthropological sense, he argued, making a case that people with nationalist sentiments can be identified as those who make their own ethnicity invisible by highlighting that of others.

By saying You are the other, you are the migrant, what Im trying to do is to mark your ethnicity so that I can hide mine. To avoid that pitfall, we must first acknowledge that ev-eryone has at least one ethnicity, he said.

When someone tries to mark the boundary between us and them, one way to break it down is that everyone has mul-tiple ethnicities.

The concept of ethnicity goes beyond bloodlines. Ethnici-ty can stem from practices such as language spoken, clothing worn, and institutions like schools.

Putting the issue into context, he cited the example of Hong Kong where ethnic Chinese make up 94 per cent of the population. But to define Hong Kong by its dominant ethnic-ity would be myopic.

Ways to view Hong Kong would be to see it as a society of migrants or a colonial cityWe and Hong Kong-ness stems from all these things even though they may be completely con-tradictory to one another, he said.

Aside from We, he said another term that has racist un-dertones is South Asian, which is commonly used by the

mainstream media in Hong Kong. It is a stereotypical racialised term used to refer to people

from the South Asia region and carry negative connotations about their skin colour, he explained.

When consumers of these news do not challenge you and society doesnt have a discourse in which these sorts of ethnic differentiation and unique identities are being talked about, then you end up with a society where the dark-skinned people are all lumped together, he said.

Similarly, migrants who enter Hong Kong from Mainland China are called New Immigrants. It insinuates that these migrants are backwards and highlights the socio-economic gulf between them and the locals, he noted.

The prevalent usage of these terms, if left unchecked, leads to intrinsic racism. It is the national expression of the feel-ings of the community, he said, adding that by having num-bers on their side, the locals are not inclined to call it racism.

Society can play a part in curbing intrinsic racism by chal-lenging, instead of taking for granted, the privilege of the ma-jority.

We need to say no to labels and step out of our comfort zones in order to stop fooling ourselves that we are not racists, when in fact we are, he said. GODWIN NG

Are labels such as "we", "new immigrants" and "south Asians" racist?

Ben Doherty (left) believes using the right words to describe and discuss the issue will close the empathy gap between migrants and citizens of the host country.

Three academics and a journalist tell why words matter in reporting the migrant situation, which could easily fan the flames of xenophobia and tip into hate speech

Words that highlight ethnicity and nationalist sentiments can contain racist undertones, argues John Nguyet Erni.

Journalism must report the statements of the government, but they cannot report only those views or without interrogation.

BEN DOHERTYon reporting critically

We need to say no to labels and step out of our comfort zones in order to stop fooling ourselves that we are not racists, when in fact we are.

JOHN NGUYET ERNIon curbing instrinsic racism

From asylum seekers to illegals

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration8 9

Free speech is a human right but it must be kept in check by frameworks so that it does not cross the line into incitement and hate speech, said Law Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn from Chulalongkorn University.

For instance, some media organisations use the word swarms to describe the influx of immigrants into the country, providing mental images of migrants as insects, he pointed out. But is that right?

Yet, while countries may wield the power to prohibit free speech, he stressed that they must not be overzealous in exercis-ing these prohibitions.

Stressing the need to strike the right balance between freedom of speech and regulation, he said: We need a variety of approach-es and actions where law, policy and practice come into play.

And some guidance is needed to avoid the subjectivity of excessive nationalism and move towards international standards (of freedom of expression), which are not perfect but do provide some answers.

Highlighting how easily words can boil over into hate speech, Muntarbhorn presented three scenarios from what is uttered in private conversations to what leaders say in public that could be construed as inciting hate, and the appropriate responses based

Do you have a right to call immigrants "insects"? The right to free speech comes with some exceptions, notes Vitit Muntarbhorn (left) who uses international guidelines as a benchmark.

THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO HATEAS HATE speech can manifest in many ways, law don Vitit Muntarbhorn offers countries a guide on how to respond to three scenarios, based on international standards such as the United Nations (UN) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

SCENARIO RESPONSETelling someone I hate you in private

Under Article 19 of the UNs ICCPR, everyone shall have the right to hold opin-ions without interference, subject to restrictions necessary for the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health and morals.

In this case, the words I hate you endangers neither national security nor public order or health, and therefore does not constitute hate speech.

Even though its not very nice, we cant really limit someone from saying it in private. We have to deal with hate but not necessarily by prohibiting it and saying its a criminal offence, said Muntarbhorn.

A minister labels a certain group of people cockroaches and calls upon the population to rise up and harm them

Article 22.2 of the ICCPR states that while everyone has the right to freedom of association with others, restrictions can be imposed in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Here, there is a triangular relationship where the minister incites the population to harm a group of people, in clear violation of the ICCPR.

We need to prohibit the advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred which constitutes incitement, discrimination or violence, said Muntarbhorn.

Denouncing a religion by declaring I think this is a bad religion

This constitutes blasphemy in some countries while other countries may not consider it blasphemous.

Regardless, in accordance with Article 20.2 of the ICCPR, any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.

JOURNALISTS should prevent corrosive speech notably against foreigners or specific races from gaining a foothold in the social landscape in Singapore, said Tan Tarn How.

Corrosive speech, unlike hate speech, may or may not be expressed with the intention of promoting hate, said Tan, a senior research fellow at the Institue of Policy Studies (IPS), a think-tank with the National University of Singapore.

But it has the potential to corrode the social fabric by cre-ating misunderstanding and making worse existing tensions among people.

Hence, journalists should not further fan the flames of xe-nophobia or racism with reckless reporting such as repeating the corrosive speech without countering it with other voices who speak out against such sentiments, he added.

As xenophobic discourse accumulates due to the prolifer-ation of such topics on social media, he stressed that the role journalists play in reporting such issues in the mainstream media becomes more important than ever.

The rise of the internet has allowed people to say what-ever they want without any mediation. Racist attitudes are shared and xenophobic groups can form due to the immedia-cy of social media, he noted.

While that is an inevitable trend, what worries him is the lack of social etiquette in discussing these issues online.

Singaporeans do not have the training to participate in free discourse and mainstream media hasnt helped with its reporting, added Tan who was a former journalist.

To keep xenophobia at bay, he offered journalists a few general rules of thumb. One, disclosing the race of a criminal in crime stories is a big no-no. This is a rule which Singapores English-language broadsheet The Straits Times follows, he added.

Two, always give context to stories and provide a multiplic-ity of voices an area which the local mainstream media has failed at times, he observed.

In almost every story about xenophobia, only two groups of people are interviewed: individuals and the government. It looks like its a struggle between the individual and the gov-ernment when other parts of the society also come into play, he said.

While journalists should strive for balance in their writing, they should also avoid the pitfall of affording equal weight to racist speech. Instead, they should call the racists out and give space to the good voices.

Lastly, Tan urged journalists not to wait for controversy be-fore providing coverage of xenophobia or hate speech-related issues. Work must be done during peacetime too, he said. GODWIN NG

Call out the racist or xenophobeCorrosive speech can be as bad as hate speech, and journalists should not simply repeat such words in reports, says Tan Tarn How (right).

on international standards. (See table below)He also offered his take on how countries can both protect

and govern peoples right to free speech to ensure harmony in the community.

One, he made clear that the advocacy of free expression must take precedence over instituting control and regula-tion. This means freedom of expression must come first as a state-guaranteed right.

Any limitations to free expression, which include prohibi-tions against hate speech, cannot be left to the States discre-tion. These restrictions, he said, ought to follow international guidelines such as the United Nations International Cove-nant on Civil and Political Rights, which clearly prohibit hate speech or any incitement of hate.

Two, while laws and policies are in place to protect, and at the same time govern, free expression, countries should look beyond these legal frameworks and strive towards a ground up

approach developing community-based self-regulation and industrial codes of ethics.

Three, there are myriad forms of migration with some mi-grants deserving more protection than others, most notably those who do not receive protection from their country of origin. Driven out of their country by various circumstances from persecution to warfare they are essentially refugees and require international protection. A prime example would be the Rohingya people, a Muslim ethnic minority group who are refused recognition by the Myanmar government.

Four, as Asean countries increasingly adopt human rights guidelines and become members of international treaties, they must also look beyond the stringent frameworks and integrate their migrant communities into their society.

This will invite a holistic response in terms of what we need to counter both the hard and soft edges of hate speeches, said Muntarbhorn. GODWIN NG

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration10

With a growing empathy deficit in modern society, journalists have an increasing responsibility to report truthfully and uphold social justice, said Indias civil servant turned writer and human rights activist Harsh Mander.

He attributed the empathy deficit to normalised poverty where poverty is so rife that people become indifferent to it, and therefore, goes unreported.

This indifference increases when there is a growing rich-poor divide. Mr Mander, who is a director at the Centre for Equity Studies in India, gave the example of India where many are so focused on their careers and building better lives for themselves that they neglect those who could not keep up.

People are living so distanced lives that they exile the poor from their conscience, and it is this indifference that charac-terises our times, he said.

They would look away rather than confront the problem of poverty or even the migration crisis. Under such circumstanc-es, he noted it is a challenge for journalists to report the full picture accurately as journalistic objectivity has a tendency to side with dominant groups.

This means sidelining the narrative of the weak and disen-franchised, he observed, urging journalists to pursue justice over the false promise of objectivity.

He referred to the unchecked and often under-reported atroci-ties happening in the states bor-dering India and Bangladesh like Assam, where Bengali-Muslims are targeted by rebels and nation-alists who view them as infiltra-tors in their land.

Specifically, he mentioned the attack on a Bengali-Muslim village in Assam that followed a hate speech by a nationalist leader.

In the way that we report, this is hardly a story reported because hate killing as a result of hate speech didnt fit the larg-er political discourse about illegal migration, he said.

Other than the issues involving religious minority groups in border states, Mr Mander also urged journalists to cover stories of minorities in the city migrants who moved from the countryside to the city.

There is a large movement of population from the coun-tryside into the city [in India], he said, noting that these ru-ral-to-urban migrants are treated as illegitimate citizens of the city. There is a sentiment that the middle class are the legit-imate residents, whereas others who come in are infiltrators, and they face hostility and prejudice as immigrants to the city.

Yet, these migrants are the people who build the citys in-frastructure, sweep the roads and provide these city dwellers with food.

Despite their contributions, many of these migrants live in poverty and suffering which mostly go unnoticed by city dwellers including journalists. These are people we see ev-

eryday, but somehow we dont see them as people just like us, he observed.

Challenging journalists to be keepers of objectivity as well as voices for those suffering injus-tices, Mr Mander said: A journal-ists basic responsibility is to truth, but I think equally a journalist has a responsibility to do justice. CYNTHIA CHOO

The age of indifferenceIs empathy passe? Harsh Mander (right) urges journalists to cultivate a passion to report injustices when reporting on migration.

WARS are unquestionably traumatic and debilitating for all those involved. Years after the armed conflict ends, citizens still struggle to return to normalcy.

In Sri Lanka, more than 240,000 families have been dis-placed due to the civil war, between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in May 2009, shared Camelia Nathaniel.

While the government has stepped up efforts to resettle them, a good number of these refugees, also known as inter-nally displaced persons, still do not have permanent homes.

The biggest challenge, however, lies in reintegrating ex-fighters back into society, particularly female fighters and former child soldiers of the LTTE, said Nathaniel, deputy edi-tor with Sri Lankas The Sunday Leader.

Such stories are also the hardest to write for Nathaniel. As a Tamil, she has been branded a traitor for writing stories that show the LTTE in bad light.

Sri Lankas Tamil media take a pro-LTTE stance while Sin-halese media take the side of the government, she said, but her paper publishes in English and reports both sides to an extent.

Among the stories that the Tamil media will not run, she said, is that of a former LTTE female fighter (seen in picture with Camelia).

A combatant since she was a child, the woman crossed over while holding her seven-day-old baby and was shot in the face by one of her own LTTE soldiers.

She survived but lost her eye, her fingers, her nose and part of her skull.

Nathaniel now helps pay for the womans elder sons edu-cation and boarding in a school, a young boy who is deeply appreciative of the gesture as the rest of society including the school is quite ready to give up on him.

While the government has done much to rehabilitate thou-sands of former LTTE fighters, she said it is also true that such efforts are not enough and there have been abuses including rape by the Sinhalese army.

Journalists pay a heavy price, with more than a dozen dead after critical reports including against the government.

Our media is divided. But as journalists, we have to tell the truth, she said. LEE ROU URN

Back to normal? On the ground with CAMELIA NATHANIEL

People are living such distanced lives that they exile the poor from their conscience, and it is this indifference that characterises our times.

HARSH MANDERon the media's indifference towards poverty

Jakarta is a melting pot for people from different parts of Indonesia so we welcome diversity. But when we report on the Rohingya for example, we feel a strong sense of solidarity with them as Muslims ourselves Thats how we identity with them, and what makes us want to help them by writing their stories fairly.ISMIRA LUTFIA, IndonesiaEditor, The ParrotJOURNALISTS VOICES

From bottom left: Former LTTE fighter (left) and journalist Camelia Nathaniel; A campsite for internally

displaced persons, fitted with clothscreens for privacy

PHOTOS COURTESTY OF CAMELIA NATHANIEL

PROBLEMS OF RESETTLEMENT: Displaced by the civil war, this woman was given a new home but without proper access to water.

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration12 13

For veteran activist Matt Fried-man, it has been a long and frustrating 25 years of fight-ing against human trafficking and helping only 0.04 per cent of the victims.

The world needs a stronger call to action, a more sober wake-up call, and Friedman has no qualms using emotion-evoking terminolo-gy to do so.

As a former UN official, I real-ised that the use of the word mass graves and genocide made the [Rohingya crisis] big news, he not-ed.

Sometimes that kind of termi-nology is exactly what is needed to make people do something about the problem.

The other word that makes peo-ple sit up and pay attention is slav-ery, said Freidman who is chief ex-ecutive officer of the Mekong Club, a not-for-profit organisation in Hong Kong that fights slavery by helping businesses understand the complexities of human traf-ficking.

To him, human trafficking is modern-day slavery as most are forced into labour that either pay very little or nothing at all, and the job is far from desirable.

What is worrying, he added, is the increasing trend of trafficking in conflict zones, exploiting vulnerable groups such as the Rohingya in Myanmar or acts of terror by militant groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and Boko Haram.

We are seeing a new kind of slavery that weve never imagine would happen, or exist again, he said.

Friedman repeated his message at a workshop after the fo-rum, urging journalists not to shy away from using words that will resonate with their readers when reporting about issues like human trafficking.

Call it what it is, but we need to focus on the call to action. We have to get the general public to do more, lets move on and

think about what we can do to help donate money, create awareness, he said.

A solution he offered was to chase the money, by going after businesses that may or may not be aware that they are perpetrators of human trafficking and slavery.

This means targeting big busi-nesses and even multinational con-glomerates. But how do journalists or activists get them to care?

It boils down to money. If an is-sue is likely to hurt their profit mar-gins, they would care.

Tell them its a business risk, he said, offering journalists some practical advice during a two-hour workshop.

After all, these conglomerates have profits to make and a brand image to maintain. With the former hinging on the latter, companies will have to clean up their supply

chain practices if they wish to continue turning a profit.

And companies can clean up their act quickly, he said, adding: It takes years for non-govern-mental organisations to change business policies, months for governments and 15 seconds for private sector companies.

Companies can close down illegal garment factories in one

fell swoop because they are powerful.In addition, he observed that a single company with a bad

reputation of using trafficked workers could smear the image of the whole industry.

Hence, he urged journalists to encourage businesses to check on each other, citing the example of website world check that allow banks to discern heightened risk individuals, in the light of increased financial crimes.

By getting more stakeholders involved, he believes that it allows for much for reporting to be done as there will be more information and more voices to shape the narrative. CYNTHIA CHOO

Human trafficking is modern day slaveryMatt Friedman says the media must not shy away from using powerful terms to evoke actions and solutions from readers.

THE lack of media coverage about the plight of victims ensnared in human trafficking frustrated academic Sallie Yea (pictured right) who has been documenting their ex-periences for her research. So she decided to help tell those stories.

Last year, the assistant professor from the National Institute of Education pub-lished a book of first-hand accounts writ-ten by migrant workers who travelled from Bangladesh and Indias Tamil Nadu to earn a living in Singapore, but ended up being exploited.

They were victims of contract substitu-tion, deceptive recruitment, and debt bondage, where many work without getting any salary as their wages were used to pay off agents who brought them to Singapore.

Some of them wrote full exercise books worth of stories, she said, adding that the funds from the book sales will go towards looking at ways to achieve economic justice for these workers.

She hopes the media will also tell more of such stories, as well as take the time to probe whether certain cases should be considered trafficking. According to Yea, the exploitation of migrant workers in Singapore, particularly in the construc-

tion sector, is possible largely due to the limited definition of human trafficking adopted by the Singapore Government.

Weve only had the human traffick-ing laws here very recently, but theres been no prosecution for labour traffick-ing in Singapore to date, which can be quite surprising considering the number of migrant workers here and the condi-tions in which they live, she said.

Among these conditions she cited in-clude degrading and substandard living conditions, underpayment and non-pay-ment of salary, use of intimidation and

threats of deportation by companies. While these conditions meet international definitions

of human trafficking, they are construed as not trafficked enough to warrant support in Singapore, she added.

Such a perception can mask and trivialise human traffick-ing in Singapore. While non-governmental organisations are documenting these incidents of exploitation, she said more ought to be done.

She hopes the published diary accounts of these work-ers would spur more concrete change in the community. CHARMAINE NG

Probing what constitutes trafficking

INTERNATIONAL GUIDELINES ON TRAFFICKINGTrafficking in Persons is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

From Article 3(a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, under the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes

As a former UN official, I realised that the use of the word 'mass graves' and 'genocide' made the [Rohingya crisis] big news.

MATT FRIEDMANon the using emotion-evoking terminology

JOURNALISTS VOICES

No doubt, we have problems, and this makes reporting difficult. Balanced reporting is something we are aware of but, sometimes, we cannot do in practical journalism. It is very difficult to report in Pakistan, because we are very controlled, to the extent that it leads to subconscious self-censorship.

VEENGAS MANGIJournalist, Daily Ibrat Newspaper Karachi, Pakistan

ACTIVISTS SPEAK: THE UPHILL BATTLE TO PROTECT MIGRANTS RIGHTS

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration14 15

Top tips on migration reporting and journalism

1. Migration needs to be a beat on its own, to ensure journalists covering it are as knowledgable about it as possible

2. Reporting should be based on facts rather than stereotypes

3. Journalists need to be aware of hate speech and either challenge them or report on them responsibly

4. Human interest stories need to have a more optimistic slant rather than focusing on just the negative aspects of migrants' lives

5. Engage the international community and government organisations to get the best information on migration trends

1. The position or status of the speaker: Is the person influential and representative of a larger community? If yes, the remarks could incite hate.

2. The reach: If the speech is reported, it will reach a much wider audience. Journalists have to consider if it is worth reporting.

3. Intention: Even if a statement does not contain explicitly hateful words, journalists must look beyond the surface and the motives behind what has been said.

4. Content or form: Journalists have to consider how certain words, pictures, gestures and manner of the speech can be likely to generate hatred and violence

5. Economic, social and political climate: Journalists have to be especially cautious in their reporting during times of political tension, threat of war, and public anxiety.

1. It may be necessary to highlight an image or incident that is inhumane or unquestionably violent, so as to spark debate and raise public awareness of a particular issue

2. Give people the information that they need

3. Avoid the rush to publish, and focus more on ensuring that the stories that are put out are ethical and accurate

4. Be aware that governments and corporations are not the only influence on the media agenda today. Citizens' voices, disseminated through social media, count too.

5. Insert disclaimers to explain the specific context in which a story has taken place or a picture is taken, to justify publishing disturbing articles or those that advance someone else's agenda.

1. Engage in accurate reporting, or fact-based communication

2. Always be independent 3. Always be impartial and recognise that there are many sides to a story

4. Being humane: Be aware that it is a journalists' job to minimise and limit harm, even when reporting freely

5. Always be accountable for your actions

Aidan White from the Ethical Journalism Network identifies some challenges preventing journalists from reporting the topic objectively, fairly, accurately and ethically. He offers some tips during the conference and at a workshop later.She showed a picture of a Rohingya woman, happily mar-ried to a Malaysian man, living quite contentedly even without proper documentation.

Are they victims or survivors? asked Avyanthi Azis, a researcher from the Department of International Relations in University of Indonesia in Jakarta.

Her point is for journalists to go beyond stereotypes and consider more positive human- interest stories of migrants, as the current narrative tends to revolve around the issues of persecution, prosecution and other forms of prejudices.

The focus, she said, could be on their story of survival instead.Azis, who spent a year with the displaced Rohingya population in Malaysia for her research, urged journalists to do the same and spend more time with migrants they inter-view to get a fuller picture of their lives.

The whole process of telling their stories is an important issue and we have to accept that our story will never be com-plete, she said.

There is also mixed motivations behind migration. Some might have crossed borders voluntarily for eco-

nomic purposes, while others might have fled due to persecu-tion faced at home, she noted.

Another speaker, Lilianne Fan, gave an example of how migration can be voluntary.

In Bangladesh where there is a large number of people unemployed, or underemployed, a lot of people are willing to take dangerous journeys in search of a better life, said the research associate from the UK-based Humanitarian Policy Group.

Sometimes, these migrants are not aware that the journeys they take are illegal, she added.

For Azis, she prefers and encourages journalists to de-scribe them as irregular, or undocumented migrants in-stead of illegal migrants even though they may not have valid work visas or travel documents.

There is no clear or universally accepted definition of ir-regular migration, but the United Nations Institute for Train-ing and Research defines it as movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit and re-ceiving countries.

Azis, however, also pointed out that the term should not mask the more sinister aspect of human trafficking and ex-ploitation that many of them face.

The trauma from persecution and wars in their home country to their epic escape - is hard to put down in words. But for some children who made the perilous journey with their parents, it can be seen in the drawings they produce, said Fan. (See pictures)

Many countries were not prepared to respond to the crisis of the boat people, she added, calling on journalists and citizens to push their governments to act responsibly. CYNTHIA CHOO

Victims or survivors? Avyanthi Azis urges journalists to consider writing more uplifting stories of survival, while Lilianne Fan shares how refugee children view their situation through drawings.

Drawings by the Rohingya refugee children on World Refugee Day, June 20, in the camp at Kuala Langsa, Aceh. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LILIANNE FAN

5 THINGS ABOUT COVERING MIGRATION 5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JOURNALISM & PROPAGANDA

5 WAYS TO KNOW IF IT IS HATE SPEECH 5 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration16 17

Chinas economy has been built on internal migration that has changed millions of peoples lives, sometimes for the worse.

Singaporean photojournalist Sim Chi Yin, who has been documenting the lives of Chinese migrant workers over the last few years, knows how bad it can get.

She has shone a light on the rat tribe, thousands of migrant workers living in Beijings dark and cramped underground quarters. She has also captured the strug-gles of gold miners stricken with silicosis a lung disease that is Chinas top occu-pational disease.

Its quite the opposite of the stories you often see in the mainstream press about China and its economic boom, said

Sim who is based in Beijing.In a poignant project called Dying

to Breathe, she told the story of a former miner He Quangui suffering from sili-cosis through powerful images that also showed the love story between He and his wife.

She spent more than four years - in be-tween other assignments documenting He who died earlier this year, but his story lives on with her photos.

Migration labour has been a run-ning theme in my work and I figured if words cant make people see that these migrants are people too, Ill go and take photographs, said Sim who is a mem-ber of the prestigious VII Photo Agency. GODWIN NG

Revealing the underbelly of Chinese migrationOn the ground with SIM CHI YIN

Ever since former gold miner He Quangui, 41, became ill 10 years ago, his wife Mi Shixiu, 36, has had to take care of his every need and the family. When he is too sickly to walk, she carries him, even up flights of stairs. They have a very close relationship, and are "still like two teenagers who just fell in love", as a relative put it. This project was supported by a travel grant from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Former gold miner He Quangui, who has incurable silicosis from years of blasting rock in illegal mines, once weighed 65kg and is now a skeletal 44kg. This project was supported by a travel grant from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. PHOTOS: SIM CHI YIN / VII

With Beijing's sky-high property prices, living underground is often the only option for low-waged migrant workers. Left: Office worker Ji Lanlan, 25, and her 3-year-old daughter, Yu Qi, enjoy a game on their computer in one of the largest rooms in this basement. Right: Originally from Heilongjiang, KTV lounge worker Big Rain, 21, seen in his basement room.

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration18 19

Respect our rights, say migrant workersIt is more compelling to hear what migrants have to say in their own words, says Mohan J Dutta (right).

I WAS beaten up everyday. I had no off day. They made me work in home and office. I was deceived. These four short and simple sentences, told through the voice of a foreign domestic worker, capture the cruelty of their work lives.

It is part of a campaign, Respect Our Rights, started by Mohan J Dutta from the National University of Singapore (NUS). This campaign stemmed from his belief that migrants stories were too often told from the viewpoint of somebody in a position of greater power a journalist, an academic, or a documentary director.

He argued that this robs migrants of their voices and the space to tell their own stories, which eventually becomes a form of subjugation for these migrants.

In some sense, news media, civil society and academics like myself profit from their (the migrants) stories. I can use these stories to write up my next journal article on my way to becoming a professor, said the Provosts Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Communications and New Media at NUS.

Journalists can use a story to win their next award, and a documentary writer can use their stories to win their next Oscar. But the question really ought to be, What is the ethical commitment that we as storytellers have to the people whose stories we take?

His remarks give reason for journalists to reflect on their role, as many aspire to be a voice for the marginalised. But

Duttas argument highlights how this form of journalism can sometimes be unhelpful to migrants.

By featuring them but framing their stories in journalists own words, they further take away migrants autonomy, and their basic human right to speak for themselves, he added.

The documentary shot as part of the Respect Our Rights campaign featured foreign domestic workers speaking of not only their struggles, but also stressing their rights to be treated as dignified human beings.

This is a powerful image, he believes, as it paints these mi-grants as assertive and not helpless people who deserve to be treated with less respect simply because they do work that the locals here shun.

Dutta also spearheaded another campaign in June (2015) to improve food standards for foreign construction workers. The NUS Centre for Culture-Centred Approach to Research and Education (Care) partnered with Healthserve, a non-prof-it community development organisation committed to the needs of migrants.

Similarly, this campaign used the voices of foreign con-struction workers to assert their basic rights to safe and nu-tritious meals.

When stories of the struggle to survive in a foreign land are fleshed out by the person, he said people will start to real-ise these workers are in fact, no different from the rest of us. LEE ROU URN

LEVEL ABOVE: Westlite Dormitory is a top-tier, four-block foreign worker dormitory in Singapore, constructed in 2013 and owned by Centurion Corporation.

(Above) LIVING WITH LESS: Workers have few luxuries in the dormitories. They often sleep without mattresses as it can be expensive to buy. According to Bakurdeen A. Majid, twelve double-decker beds are fitted into a 42 square foot dormitory, along with two shower and toilet cubicles respectively. According to regulation, up to seven workers can share a toilet cubicle.

PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA CHOO

JUST A CALL AWAY: Migrant workers often use prepaid cards to call home, if they can afford to own a handphone. Others use payphones around the dormitory.

STARK REMINDERS: Eviction notices outside security gantries that workers have to pass. Evicted workers are usually shifted to another dormitory or repatriated.

Meeting the migrantsDuring a full-day tour of migrant nation Singapore, visiting journalists learnt about the challenges facing low-skilled foreign workers here and visited a dormitory where they lived.

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration20 21

A person living in London is a Londoner while a New Yorker is someone from New York. But what do you call foreigners living in Singapore, asked Fredrik Har-en, a Swedish writer living here.

Were not Singaporeans. Were expats, said Haren who has been calling Singapore home since 2008 but still feels the divide between locals and white-collar foreigners like himself acutely.

Often slapped with the label expat a blanket term commonly used by Singaporeans to refer to foreign Profes-sionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) Haren finds the word, and the lack of a collective term, par-ticularly exclusive.

Its a mindset problem. The term expat is creating a men-tal divide, he said, adding that such labels are driving an in-visible wedge between locals and foreigners. When people

meet me for the first time, their first question is always Which country are you from? This actually highlights our difference.

The number of foreigners in the workforce was over 1.3 million last year (2014), sparking resentment among locals about competition for jobs. But the Singapore government has been assuaging such concerns and also curbed the flow of for-eigners into the city-state.

In April, then-Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin dis-missed talks of foreign professionals displacing locals, point-ing to the fall in growth rate of foreigners holding Employ-ment Pass (EP) for professionals and S-Pass for semi-skilled workers. Their growth dipped from 20 per cent in 2011 to 4 per cent in 2014.

Still, Paul DSouza, an India-born Singapore permanent resident, feels that the influx of foreign professionals will not be easing anytime soon, citing the recent trend of multination-

The local-foreign divide in SingaporeVisiting journalists went on a full-day tour of Singapore, a migrant nation, where they met a wide range of foreigners working here. In the morning, they learnt the issues facing low-skilled workers and visited a dormitory where they lived. In the afternoon, they spoke to foreign professionals about how locals perceive them.

Migration present... ...and past

ALTHOUGH migration has only recently hogged headlines, it is far from a new phenomenon. In fact, it has been the main drivers of growth within the region, and even played a

big role in the formation of some nations, said Amarjit Kaur from the University of New England in Australia.

Around 15 million migrants from China and India entered Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore between 1870s and 1950s. Most were seeking work and a better life, noted the Emer-itus Professor who works on issues from forced migration to how countries should manage their borders.

Tracing the history of migration, she said it became prevalent as early as the 1870s when Western powers colonised Southeast Asia.

At that time, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in Eu-rope, and Southeast Asia naturally became the production site for goods that were needed to drive industrialisation.

This inclusion of Southeast Asia as the factory or production house of the West meant there were many job opportunities within the region, she noted.

The prospect of lucrative jobs lured many migrants from China and India, keen to escape poverty and social unrest in their home countries, to embark on their journey sometimes perilous to the then relatively unknown Southeast Asia.

Unlike now, those countries borders were relatively porous at that time as authorities freely absorbed and accepted many immi-grants whose migration motive was mainly economics. Today, mi-gration is a lot more complex.

Many Chinese and Indian migrants subsequently chose to set-tle in the foreign land where they made their living, redrawing the ethnic map of Southeast Asia forever. LEE ROU URN

IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE

al corporations sending core teams of foreign experts to other countries to start new divisions as one of the main reasons.

This is a big factor behind the globalised migration of skilled workers. People have to get used to it, said DSouza, who heads a multinational team at American insurance firm Chubb.

Encouraging Singaporeans to view foreign professionals like himself as allies rather than adversaries, he said: For Sin-gapores economy to be competitive, locals must embrace mi-gration. Most global cities are melting pots of immigrants. If you want to be a global hub, you must have foreigners.

On the other hand, he conceded that tensions between lo-cals and foreigners are inevitable, given Singapores geograph-ical limitations. Singapore is so small that any differences will be magnified. And unlike those living in cities like London, Singaporeans have no hinterland to escape to, he said.

But with the Ministry of Manpowers announcement in July that it is raising the minimum income for foreigners look-ing to bring their family over to Singapore, immigration num-bers could start to dip in the future.

Those seeking Dependants Passes for their spouse and children must earn at least $5,000 a month, up from the cur-rent $4,000. The change will kick in in September and will af-fect EP and S-Pass holders.

Regardless, Haren believes he has found a permanent home in Singapore for his wife and daughter. I came here not to work, but to live. And in terms of quality of life, Singapore is the best place to live in. New York and London may be capitals of the world but Singapore is the world in a capital, he said.

If the 19th century belonged to Europe and the 20th cen-tury belonged to United States, then the 21st century belongs to Asia and Singapores at the heart of it. GODWIN NG

From left: Foreign professionals Edmond Vo, Elina Yu Jia, Fredrik Haren, Paul D'Souza, Alena Arens, Hugh Mason and Mike de Shazer sharing their Singapore story, with moderator Radha Basu (fourth from left).

Swedish writer Fredrik Haren says the term "expat" creates a divide between locals and foreigners.

Asia Journalism Focus Reporting Migration22 23

Migration opens the doors of opportunity, but can leave families caught in between cultures. One community suffering from this identity crisis

is the Gurkhas Nepali men silently guarding Sin-gapores security for the past 65 years who feel lost when they return to Nepal after retirement.

Chong Zi Liang and Zakaria Zainal documented the lives of different generations of Gurkhas in Singa-pore, following them from recruitment preparations to retirement in their home country, in a book The Invisible Force.

Their children are born and bred in Singapore, go to local schools and speak Singlish just like the rest of us. When they go back, they become strangers in their homeland, said Chong, a journalist with The Straits Times.

For Zakaria, a photojournalist, the book was his way of giving the elusive Gurkhas the spotlight they deserve.

If you were to trace all the newspaper articles about the Gurkhas since 1949, you can count the number with just one hand, he said.

They are invisible to the eye but they are always there waiting to strike if anything happens.

In fact, it was this elusiveness that prompted Chong and Zakaria to produce the book.

As Singapore was gearing up for its 50th birthday this year, many individuals were recognised for their contributions towards nation building. Yet, the Gur-khas, were left out of the picture, they shared.

This book is a small measure of giving them a bit of recognition and letting them know we are thankful for their service, said Chong. GODWIN NG

Giving voice to the silent guardians of SingaporeOn the ground with CHONG ZI LIANG and ZAKARIA ZAINAL

1-3: Photos from "The Invisible Force"4: Photojournalist Zakaria Zainal (left) and journalist Zhong Zi Liang documented the gurkhas, from Nepal to Singapore

1

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PHOTOS COURTESTY OF ZAKARIA ZAINAL AND

CHONG ZI LIANG

Divers and miners head out to sea to catch a boat that takes them about 3km away from the coast of Rebo beach in the Sungai Liat subdistrict of Bangka, to dive for tin from the sea bed. For their dangerous and hard work, these divers get just 10kg of tin per day for which they earn 100,000 rupiah (S$10). PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN / VII