By Braema Mathiaparanam, Chairperson of Singapore Working Group for an ASEAN

Human Rights Mechanism ( MARUAH) www.maruah.org/www.hrmech.org

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OutlineDefinitionReasons The PhenomenonTheir ContributionsThe VulnerabilityThe ASEAN measuresCountry MeasuresRecommendations

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Definition• Refugee - Under the United Nations Convention

Relating to the Status of Refugees from 1951, a refugee is a person who (according to the formal definition in article 1A of this Convention), "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself to the country of origins.

• Displaced person - A displaced person (sometimes abbreviated DP) is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration. Hence can be internal or external for reasons sch as economics, political or caused by disasters

• Trafficked person – forced labour, duped into a new environment, agencies and recruitment mathods

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Reasons For Movement Conflicts in Southeast Asia• war in Viet Nam produced 250,000 South

Vietnamese, 1.1 million North Vietnamese and 60,000 American casualties

• ethnic and separatist movements in East Timor and Aceh have respectively claimed 200,000 and more than 2,000 live

• Southern Thailand/Souhern Philippines• Recogntion of indigenous people

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Con’t(1)‘Politicide’ in Asia. Politicide describes policies

that seek to destroy groups because of their political beliefs rather than religion or ethnicity

• The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia killed about 1.7 million (about one quarter of the Cambodian population) during its brutal rule between 1975 to 1979

• Anti-Communist riots that followed the transition from Sukarno to Suharto in the mid-1960s claimed about 400,000 lives

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Cont’d(2)Financial CrisisThe Asian financial crisis started in 1997 and

acutely affected four South-East Asian countries – Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippine for example A study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) showed that between August 1997 and December 1998, unemployment in Indonesia rose from4.3 million to 13.7 million

Disasters

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The Phenonmenon – Some Statistics

Current global estimates of migrant persons is around 200 million or 3 percent of the world population. One human being in 35 today is an international migrant

22 million migrants from AsiaAbout half are women; more ( 52 per cent ) in

developed countries as compared to developing countries

Refugees (UNHCR) - 42 milion; Displaced persons (UNHCR) – 43.3 million

Trafficking within SEA is estimated to be between 200,000 and 400,000 women and children.

(http://www.unhcr.org/4c11f0be9.html)7

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The Phenonmenon - Feminisation of Migration

• Indonesia - 70 and 80 per cent of its migrant labour force is female mainly working as domestic workers.

• Philippines The Philippines estimates that 6.8 million Filipinos in 191 countries. Majority, female

• Taiwan - Indonesians are almost 40 percent of the migrant workers of which 90 percent are women care givers.

• Singapore – of the 800,000 semi-skilled workers about 190,000 for domestic workers. One in seven households have a domestic worker

• Caring industry ‘cos of ageing population and women in the workforce

• Entertainement Industry• Wives

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The Contribution (?)Sectors – domestic work; construction; manufacturing;

shipbuilding; healthcare; caregiving; service industry in food and beverage, massage parlours, beauty salons;, cleaning services; car washes; garbage disposal , fishermen– WHO IS THE WORKER?

Migrant Labour - Remittances eg 1983 remittances received in Philippines was already US$995 million; By 2004 Filipino migrant workers sent US$8 billion dollars home in 2004[1] and Indonesian migrants U.S.$2 billion[2 - WHAT’S THE CONTRIBUTION OF UNDOCUMENTED GROUP eg Rohingas, refugees, desperate, in despair, social visit pass holders

Trafficked Persons and Foreign Wives - THE INVISIBLE BENEFIT AND COSTS; some estimates are that USD$60 million in remittances from trafficked persons in the sex industry( difficult to measure)

Migrant Workers’ Discourse – Human Rights(Rights/Political, Civil and Economic Rights)/Labour Rights/Women’s Rights/Gender and Migrant Workers

What’ the discourse of Refugees, Displaced Persons and Trafficked – IS IT ALL COSTS?

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The VulnerabilityLong stay in camps, slumsChildren’s education Women and children – GBVSubstance abuseHIVSkills enhancementDebt burdens ( agents, corruption)FearStatelessness – NON-PERSONSProgression/Regression – asylum seeker, refugee,

smuggle, traffickedCycle of Poverty

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Country-level MeasuresEnable UNHCR to do assessement processing

eg MalaysiaSpaces for temporary settlementAcceptanceRepatriation eg Thailand wants to send home

million undocumented people from Myanmar, about 150,000 live at the borders.

Only Cambodia and the Philippines have ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Convention) and its 1967 Protocol

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ASEAN ASEAN Charter – Articles 2 (i) and 2(j) – international laws and

protection of human rights of people in ASEAN ASEAN Human Rights Body; ASEAN Intergovernment

Commission on Human Rights( AICHR) – Articles 4.4; 4.11; 1.6; 2.2 – commitment to human rights principles and international norms

ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC), the ASEAN Chiefs of National Police (ASEANAPOL) and the ASEAN Committee on Women(ACW)

ASEAN Commission on Women and Children Social and Cultural Blueprint – Article C2( protection and

Promotion of Migrant Workers)

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ChallengesDefinition Cost issue in countries of destinationTransborder cooperation in the face of

political differencesNational prioritiesClarity at both international and regional

levels on a cooperative modelCorruption

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SuggestionsRecognition for asylum seekers and refugees as part

of ASEAN family Capacity-building of officers dealing with migrant

issuesSkillsBilateral and regional cooperation - creation of

transitory settlements; skills enhancement and rehabilitative approaches

Call on ASEAN States to grant UNHCR full and unconditional access to asylum seekers, refugees, stateless  and displaced persons within their borders for recommendations on statelessness

ASEAN States who have not yet ratified and implemented the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol

Human rights frameworkCore labour Standards

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