This is a statement to announce the launch of the ASEAN civil society
Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of
Migrant Workers last December 2009 by the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant
Workers.
Below
is a statement to announce the launch of the ASEAN civil society
Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of
Migrant Workers last December 2009 by the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant
Workers. This statement can also be found here.

As
activists around Southeast Asia gathered to celebrate International
Migrants Day on December 18th, the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers
and FORUM-ASIA launched an important resource book for the campaign to
achieve a comprehensive ASEAN agreement that will protect the human
rights of migrant workers.  For the first ever time in print, the book
features the full text of the

ASEAN
civil society Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of
the Rights of Migrant Workers that was formally proposed to the ASEAN
Senior Labor Officials Meeting in Vientiane, Laos, in May 2009. 

The
Framework Instrument was drafted, reviewed, revised, and finalized in a
bottom-up process of 8 national consultations and 7 regional
consultations attended by the major trade union, NGO, and
community-based organization networks in ASEAN in 2007-2008.

Sinapan
Samydorai, the Convener of the TF-AMW, remarked that "With this book in
their hands, civil society campaigners hold in succinct form the
proposal that their activist colleagues believe ASEAN should use as a
road-map in drawing up a real ten-state agreement on the rights of all
migrant workers in the region.  By speaking and working together for
the adoption of key elements of our common proposal, I am sure that we
can persuade ASEAN to adopt a final Instrument on the rights of all
migrant workers that makes a real difference in improving the migrant
workers' and their families lives in the region."

The book also
features the full text of each of the final national consultations
statements from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.   TF-AMW also included
key letters and statements made to ASEAN officials and national
governments on various aspects of the ASEAN led process to fulfill the
promise of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the
Rights of Migrant Workers.

Senior ASEAN official Donald
Tambunan wrote the introduction of the resource book, showing the ASEAN
Secretariat's support for processes like this to bring the involvement
of ASEAN peoples in the organization.   He said that "The development
and publication of this document is yet more evidence of the strong
interest of ASEAN civil society to promote the ASEAN Community building
process.  The ASEAN Secretariat therefore congratulates the TF-AMW for
this effort. We would like to encourage the TF-AMW to continue its
engagement with ASEAN through the consultation process on the
protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers at the
national and regional levels."

The ASEAN civil society Framework
Instrument was used as the core reference document at a break-through
meeting of the ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour, convened by the Thai
Ministry of Labour on 30-31 July  2009 in Bangkok, which brought
together officials of the ten ASEAN governments, and a full complement
of trade union and NGO activists from throughout the region.   The
governments were highly receptive towards civil society's proposal and
this interest has continued especially with reports that three
governments on the drafting committee to develop the formal ASEAN
agreement on the protection and promotion of the rights of  migrant
workers are now using the civil society Framework Instrument as an
important reference document.  The TF-AMW encourages the governments to
develop their policies and agreement on migration using any and all of
civil society's proposals, and we urge our fellow civil society
activists to join the TF-AMW's lobbying and advocacy efforts for
adoption of the civil society proposal. 

All across ASEAN, the
TF-AMW has launched national coordinating committees to lead advocacy
efforts focused on national government policy makers.   These union
leaders, NGO activists, and community organizers can now make use of
this new campaign resource to educate their team members and serve as a
reference for campaign-related materials.   The year 2010 will be
critical for bringing real protection to migrant workers in ASEAN and
the TF-AMW is ready to lead all civil society networks to make it
happen!

Copies of the publication are available from Sinapan
Samydorai, the Convener of the TF-AMW, who can be contacted at  fax: +
65 6425 0709 ; email: [email protected] or from the Forum Asia office
at  fax: +662 653 2942; email: [email protected]; office address: 246
Times Square Building, 12 Floor, Room 12-01 Sukhumvit Road, between Soi
12-14, Khlong Toei, Bangkok 10110, Thailand. Electronic copies of  the
Civil Society Proposal can also be mailed out in response to emails to
the Convener of the TF-AMW at: [email protected].