Talking ASEAN on Migrant WorkersJakarta, December 11, 2013

The AEC 2015’s Free Movement of Labor : Implicationsfor Migrant Workers’ Rights by Muhammad Iqbal, Ph.D

Talking Asean “ The AEC 2015’s Free Moevement of Labor : Implications for

Migrant Workers’ Rights”

By : Muhammad Iqbal, Ph.D President of Union Migrant (UNIMIG) Indonesia

Head of Departement Psychology of Mercu Buana University Jakarta

The Habibie Center

Jakarta, Wednesday, 11 December 2013

What defenition of Migrant Workers ?

• Migrant Worker refers to a person who is to be engaged, is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national. (International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, ILO Convention 1990)

• These migrant workers included : frontier workers; seasonal workers, seafarer; worker on an offshore installation; itinerant worker; project-tied worker; specified-employment worker; self-employed worker.

• ASEAN countries who have ratified : Indonesia and Philippines

• Migrant workers in not only domestic workers

• Not only 3 D sector (Dangerous, Dirty and Difficult)

• Migrant workers including expatriate (Ir, lecturer, Researcher, Medical

Doctor, etc)

Opinion about Migrant Workers

Numbers of Migrant Workers from ASEAN

• Total numbers : 13,5 millions

• 39% (5,3 millions) are working in other ASEAN countries

• 60% working in informal sector, that are not fully covered labor laws and social protection measures

(ILO, 2005)

Country and Migration in ASEAN

Sending

Indonesia

(2.3 million)

Philipines

(3.6 million)

Vietnam

Myanmar

(1.6 million))

Kambodja

Recieving

Malaysia

(1.9 million)

Singapaore

(1.2 million.)

Thailand

(1.9 million)

Brunei Daraussalam

ASEAN standards on the protection of migrant workers :

• The 2008 ASEAN Charter stated in Article 1 Paragraph 11 that ASEAN would “enhance the well-being and the livelihood of the people of ASEAN by providing them with equitable access to opportunities for human development, social welfare and justice.”

• Section 3.2.2 of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint (2007) recommended ASEAN “(1) Establish an integrated social protection and social risk management system…. and (3) Strengthen systems of social protection at the national level and work toward adoption of appropriate measures at the regional level.”

ASEAN standards on the protection of migrant workers (2):

• ASEAN’s Vientiane Action Programme (2004-2010) section 1.1.4.6 mandated elaboration of an ASEAN Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (AIMW).

• In 2007, ASEAN agreed to the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (DPPMW) and the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Protection andPromotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) was established.

The Factors of Migration

• poverty

• Limited working field

Push Factors

• Geography

• Language

• Culture

Barrier Factors • Higher salary

• Better living quality

Pull Factors

The Main Problems Faced by Indonesian Migrant Workers

• Overcharging

• The role of government is very weak

Powerful Agent/Broker

• Unilateral termination - Exploitation

• Unpaid wages

Labour Right Violations

• Discrimination

• Reproductive time ( biological, social and spiritual needs)

Others

REGIONAL CONSULTATION ON OUTSOURCING OF MIGRANTS

• The candidate of migrant workers are recruited by the agent from senior high school/ fresh graduates.

• Malaysian outsourcing agents cooperated with the Indonesian agents in recruiting and selection of the candidates.

• The candidate of workers are obliged t pay the costs of placement in two ways, pay cash in advance(Rp.5-10 million) or salary cut for 1 year.

• Contract is made not with the company but the outsourcing company.

Case study:Sony company in Bangi

• ±300 workers work for the outsourcing company in Sony company.

• They are placed in rental houses with the capacity of 40 per house.

• Salary are cut as much 50% • The worker’s rights are not fully given • Agreements are made between the workers and the

outsourcing company • The company ignores the worker’s rights because

they have fully paid he outsourcing company

An example of a salary bill

An example of a work contract letter

Living Conditions

17

ASIA & WORKERS MIGRATION

• Labor Migration is a trend that creates both challenges as well as opportunities for both sending and receiving countries.

• According to a report by ILO, between the years 1995 to 2000, of the 2.6 to 2.9 million Asian migrant workers, 40% of them went to other Asian countries in search of better employment opportunities.

• The most important Asian receiving countries are Japan, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

• Of course most of the migrant workers from the Indian sub-continent are looking for jobs in the middle east countries.

Mechanism for ASEAN Cooperation in Labour and Migrant Workers

ASEAN SUMMIT

18

ASEAN COORDINATING COUNCIL (ACC)

ASEAN SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL

ASEAN LABOUR MINISTERS MEETING (ALMM)

SENIOR LABOUR OFFICIALS MEETING (SLOM)

SLOM WORKING GROUP ON

PROGRESSIVE LABOUR

PRACTICES TO ENHANCE THE

COMPETITIVENESS OF ASEAN

(SLOM-WG)

ASEAN COMMITTEE ON THE

IMPLEMENTION OF THE ASEAN

DECLARATION ON THE

PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF

MIGRANT WORKERS (ACMW)

ASEAN

OCCUPATIONAL

SAFETY AND HEALTH

NETWORK

(OSHNET)

SLOM WG ON THE HIV

PREVENTION AND

CONTROL ON THE

WORK PLACE

Population of Migration based on Continent (2000)

Continent Total of Population Migrant (%)

Asia 36.723.000.000 497.000.000 1,35

Afrika 7.936.000.000 162.000.000 2,04

Eropa 7.273.000.000 561.000.000 7,71

Amerika

Latin/Karibia

5.188.000.000 59.000.000 1,14

Amerika Utara 3.131.000.000 408.000.000 13,03

Oseania-Pasifik 305.000.000 58.000.000 19,02

Total 60.556.000.000 58.000.000 2,88

Sumber : United Nations 2000 and IOM 2003, 304

Labor Cost sekitar ASEAN (2000 – 2005)

25 - 29

10 - 15

20 - 25

26 - 30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Singapore

ASEAN Declaration on the Promotion and the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers

General Principle:

1. Both the receiving states and sending states shall strengthen the political, economic and social pillars of the ASEAN Community by promoting the full potential and dignity of migrant workers in a climate of freedom, equity, and stability in accordance with the laws, regulations, and policies of respective ASEAN Member Countries;

2. The receiving states and the sending states shall, for humanitarian reasons, closely cooperate to resolve the cases of migrant workers who, through no fault of their own, have subsequently become undocumented;

General Principle (2)

3. The receiving states and the sending states shall take into account the fundamental rights and dignity of migrant workers and family members already residing with them without undermining the application by the receiving states of their laws, regulations and policies; and

4. Nothing in the present Declaration shall be interpreted as implying the regularisation of the situation of migrant workers who are undocumented.

Issue of Migrant Workers in ASEAN

1. ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the

Rights of Migrant Workers

Signed by Leaders at 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, Phillipines, in 2007

As Platform to promote fundamental rights and dignity of migrant workers and its member of families;

Covering obligation of Sending States and Receiving States;

2. ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint

Adopted by ASEAN Leaders at 14th ASEAN Summit in Cha-am, Thailand, on 27 February – 1 March 2009

Element C2 of ASCC Blueprint : Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers;

Consisting 9 action lines of ASCC Blueprint related with issue of Migrant Workers;

ASEAN Mechanism on Migrant Workers

ASEAN Sectoral Meeting

a. ASEAN Labour Ministerial Meeting (ALM)

b. Senior Labour Ministerial Meeting (SLOM)

ASEAN Committee in the Implementation of the

Declaration on Promotion and Protection of the Rights

of Migrant Worker (ACMW)

ASEAN Forum on Migrant Workers

The Overview of

Indonesian Migrant Workers

Total numbers : 6 millions

Source : BNP2TKI, March 2013

145.603

122.814

110.497

72.846

27.96318.204

17.790 15.056 13.911 12.938

119.620

115.456

100.368

46.245

10.85315.021 16.259

14.082 13.87513.728

0

20.000

40.000

60.000

80.000

100.000

120.000

140.000

160.000

Jawa Barat Jawa Tengah Jawa Timur NTB Banten DKI Jakarta Lampung Bali SulawesiSelatan

SumatraUtara

2011

2012

TOP TEN PROVINCE AS SENDER

OF INDONESIAN MIGRANT WORKERS YEAR 2011-2012

NO PROVINSI 2013

s.d Akhir Maret

1 JAWA BARAT 27.746

2 JAWA TENGAH 21.713

3 JAWA TIMUR 20.963

4 NUSA TENGGARA BARAT 12.058

5 LAMPUNG 3.652

6 KALIMANTAN BARAT 3.599

7 BANTEN 2.733

8 SUMATERA UTARA 2.667

9 BALI 2.532

10 SULAWESI SELATAN 2.332

Sumber data: PUSAT PENELITIAN PENGEMBANGAN DAN INFORMASI (PUSLITFO BNP2TKI)

NO NEGARA 2011 2012

1 SAUDI ARABIA 137.097 40.655

2 MALAYSIA 130.134 134.023

3 TAIWAN 78.865 81.071

4 HONGKONG 40.847 45.478

5 SINGAPORE 39.622 41.556

6 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 33.398 35.571

7 QATAR 17.098 20.380

8 UNITED STATES 14.643 15.353

9 KOREA SELATAN 11.814 13.593

10 BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 8.364 13.146

11 OMAN 6.814 8.836

12 BAHRAIN 6.301 6.328

13 SYRIA 5.952 1

14 ITALY 5.625 3.691

15 KUWAIT 4.733 2.518

16 JAPAN 4.371 3.293

17 SPAIN 4.262 1.746

18 SOUTH AFRICA 3.745 1.388

19 THAILAND 2.413 1.035

20 ALJAZAIR 2.018 942

21 CHINA 1.072 1.967

22 TURKEY 1.016 1.209

23 MALDIVES 638 630

24 NETHERLANDS 592 798

25 NIGERIA 588 228

26 LAINNYA 24.060 19.173

TOTAL 586.082 494.609

0

20.000

40.000

60.000

80.000

100.000

120.000

140.000

160.000

2011

2012

TOP 25 DESTINATION COUNTRIES

OF INDONESIA MIGRANT WORKERS YEAR 2011-2012

YEAR

TOTAL

ARRIVAL DEPORTATION % DEPORTATION

2010 331.402 60.399 18,2

2011 309.463 44.432 14,4

2012 250.637 31.528 12,6

SOURCE : PUSAT PENELITIAN PENGEMBANGAN DAN INFORMASI (PUSLITFO BNP2TKI)

539,169

494,266

393,720

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

2010 2011 2012

96,755

72,908

49,879

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

2010 2011 2012

NUMBERS OF INDONESIA MIGRANT WORKERS RETURN TO

INDONESIA DURING 2010-2012

NO Destination Countries Numbers of Problemed Workers

2011 2012

1 ARAB SAUDI 19.561 9.429

2 UEA 7.122 5.715

3 QATAR 3.471 4.128

4 TAIWAN 4.781 5.412

5 SINGAPURA 3.821 3.927

6 OMAN 2.155 2.147

7 HONGKONG 3.402 2.851

8 SYRIA 457 1.214

9 BAHRAIN 826 882

10 MALAYSIA 22.933 12743

11 KUWAIT 691 299

12 BRUNEI

DARUSSALAM 441 198

13 KORSEL 9 0

14 LAIN-LAIN 3.238 934

TOTAL 72.908 49.879

Source: PUSAT PENELITIAN PENGEMBANGAN DAN INFORMASI (PUSLITFO BNP2TKI)

Numbers of Problemed Workers (deportation)

Year 2011-2012

Sumber data: PUSAT PENELITIAN PENGEMBANGAN DAN INFORMASI (PUSLITFO BNP2TKI)

NO Type of Problems/Cases

2011 2012

(JUMLAH) (JUMLAH)

1 Incomplete documents 21.026 12.579

2 One-side fired 14.123 10.607

3 Problems with employee 11.448 8.759

4 Sickness because of the working load 7.413 5.027

5 Innate sickness 2.464 623

6 Delayed salary 2.458 2.311

7 Sexual insulting 2.251 1.429

8 Harassment 2.223 2.057

9 Wrong jobs 1.934 1.156

10 Communication problems 1.142 944

11 The inability to work 1.063 447

12 Accidents 846 544

13 The death of the employee 656 552

14 Pregnancy 603 357

15 Bring children 431 245

16 Others 2.827 2.242

TOTAL 72.908 49.879

6,74 6,73 6,99

0,0

2,0

4,0

6,0

2010 2011 2012

NO YEAR REMMITTANCES

( X US$ 1 BILLION )

1 2010 6,74

2 2011 6,73

3 2012 6,99

4 2013 SD 31 MARCH 1,24

SOURCES PUSAT PENELITIAN PENGEMBANGAN DAN INFORMASI (PUSLITFO BNP2TKI)

Remittances from Indonesia Migrant Workers Year 2010 – 2012, 2013 (until 31 March)

PILOT – Information Campaigns and Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking on Indonesian Migrant Workers

Vot’s in KBRI Kuala Lumpur

The Challenge of The ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant

Workers (Cebu Declaration) 2007

• This “instrument” is interpreted by sending states as an international “agreement”. However, to some other ASEAN countries, mostly receiving states, the “instrument” is no more than guidance, which is not legally binding.

• ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers established during the foreign ministers meeting in Singapore in 2008. This meeting structurally placed ACMW under the Senior Labor Officials’ Meeting (SLOM). This structure is actually slightly inappropriate since the issues in ACMW are not synonymous with those discussed in SLOM.

The Challenge of The ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (Cebu

Declaration) 2007

• Conflicting interests between sending and receiving states. There are differences in the fundamental contents, like definition and scope of migrant workers. The sending countries wish to include documented and undocumented migrant workers in the definition of migrant workers. On the other hand, the receiving countries will only accept legal or documented migrant workers in the definition.

• The definition of migrant workers in ASEAN tend to specify the terminology to informal workers (only)

• The deadlock on the position of sending and receiving countries will be the most problem for the protection of migrant workers , esp in moving toward an ASEAN community by 2015.

Other Challenge(s):

• Professional workers do not recognize as migrant workers in ASEAN terminology of migrant workers which created discrimination on the protection of these workers;

• The standardization (or certification) of professionalism among ASEAN states;

• Language barriers

• Social Protections

• The Instruments migrant workers protection in ASEAN is not legaly bainding