Collaboration needed to protect rights of migrant workers

Building greater collaboration between national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and non-government organisations to strengthen protections for migrant workers was one of the key areas of discussion at a workshop, held earlier this month in Dili, Timor Leste.

The week-long program, which brought together representatives from 13 APF member institutions and NGOs in 12 Asia Pacific countries, aimed to develop practical skills and strategies to promote the rights of migrant workers at the national and regional level.

During a session on NHRIs, led by Karen Gomez Dumpit from the Philippines Commission on Human Rights, Suraina Pasha from the APF Secretariat was invited to discuss the work of the APF and its recently-established Working Group on Migration.

Ms Dumpit then facilitated a group exercise where participants were invited to provide comments and propose changes to the terms of reference of the APF Working Group.

During the exercise, participants developed a number of suggestions aimed at enhancing NGO input to the work of the new group, including the establishment of a NGO network to advise the APF Working Group on issues of concern at the national level and to share information on cases of rights violations of migrant workers.

Ms Dumpit offered to forward the suggestions to the APF Working Group’s steering committee for its consideration.

The capacity building program also explored a range of other strategies to promote and protect the rights of migrant workers, such as effective lobbying and advocacy, promoting compliance with international human rights and ILO standards and engaging with UN mechanisms, such as the treaty body reporting process.

Timor Leste was chosen as the location for the workshop as it is both a sending and receiving country for migrant workers. It is also one of the few countries in the Asia-Pacific region to have ratified the UN Convention of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families.

As part of the workshop, participants had the opportunity to visit the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation of Timor Leste.

Participants were also invited to meet Timor Leste’s President, Jose Ramos Horta, who is also the patron of the Diplomacy Training Program (DTP). The President discussed Timor Leste’s journey to nationhood and the challenges currently facing the country.

The workshop was organised by the DTP, Forum Tao Matan and Migrant Forum Asia, in partnership with the APF. While the APF has cooperated with the DTP in the past, this is the first formal partnership between the two organisations. The APF looks forward to continuing this valuable collaboration.

APF member institutions that participated in the workshop included Australia, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Palestine, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Timor Leste.

The skills and knowledge developed through this workshop will support NHRIs in the region as they work together to implement the Seoul Guidelines, which sets out a number of practical steps to improve the living and working environments of migrants.