Jul 19, 2021 | RM, Statements
Click here for a Thai translation of this statement
Click here for a Malay translation of this statement
JAKARTA – As COVID-19 cases surge in Thailand and Malaysia, as well as elsewhere in the region, Southeast Asian lawmakers urge these governments to take more inclusive measures to protect everyone without discrimination, regardless of their migration status, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today.
“While we are all affected by the pandemic, governments are excluding migrant workers from their social and public health policies in their response, leaving them behind and struggling to survive. We will never recover from this health crisis if we do not provide care for everyone, including all migrants. Government policies must ensure that they have equal access to immediate aid, testing, treatment, and vaccinations, without fear,” said Mercy Barends, an Indonesian Member of Parliament (MP) and APHR Member.
Amid record highs of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths in Thailand and Malaysia, migrants have been disproportionately affected. Widespread infections have been found among migrant worker communities due to over-crowded and unhygienic living conditions that increase the risk of COVID-19 spreading. Meanwhile, many migrant workers have lost their jobs and incomes, are facing severe financial challenges, and a shortage of food and clean drinking water. They continue to face discriminatory obstacles in receiving medical treatment and assistance from the government.
The governments of Thailand and Malaysia must include migrant workers in social protection measures on an equal basis as those of its citizens, and ensure that criteria for accessing essential services are not based on nationality, citizenship or immigration status, APHR said. Migrants who have contracted COVID-19 should be treated immediately and all should be granted access to vaccinations in the same manner as citizens.
As a long-term solution, ASEAN Member States must improve social protection and implement labor reforms, in line with their commitments made in the ASEAN Declaration on Strengthening Social Protection.
Last month, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced the closure of camp sites for construction workers until the end of July, confining migrants in congested conditions with limited access to medicine and food. Shortly after, the Minister of Labor announced it would stop proactive COVID-19 testing and healthcare assistance for migrant workers in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Meanwhile, approximately two million undocumented migrants are excluded from Thailand’s national COVID-19 vaccination programme, and migrant workers are not eligible for cash hand-out remedies.
In Malaysia, migrants are facing similar obstacles to receiving assistance, while ongoing raids, arrests and detentions by authorities are deterring migrants from coming forward for testing, medical treatment, or to be vaccinated. The fear of accessing essential services will likely result in an increase in undetected infections that can affect all communities, including through spikes in COVID-19 cases in overcrowded and unsanitary detention centres, as they did last year.
“These policies and actions contribute to the increasing stigma and hate speech against migrants online and offline. It is disgraceful that the governments of Thailand and Malaysia are contributing to divisive anti-migrant rhetoric, for what appears to be political gain at a time when they are coming under heavy criticism for their failure to contain the spread of the virus,” said Teddy Baguilat, former MP of the Philippines and APHR’s Interim Executive Director.
Dec 3, 2020 | Reports, RM
Fact-Finding Mission Report Findings, August 2017
As ASEAN’s regional integration effort proceeds, the movement of people across borders for a variety of reasons is increasing, and migration has remained intrinsically tied to economic development region-wide. Given this context, APHR conducted a fact-finding mission to Malaysia to examine the situation of human rights in the context of intra-regional migration and gain a clearer understanding of the situation for migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of human trafficking. This report a summary of the delegation’s observations from the visit and recommendations for how Malaysia, other regional governments, and ASEAN as a whole can best address some of the main concerns identified.
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Nov 9, 2020 | BHR, DFF, FoRB, RM, Statements
JAKARTA – Southeast Asian leaders meeting in Singapore this week must address pressing regional human rights concerns, including by taking steps to reform and strengthen ASEAN’s human rights mechanisms. That was the call from ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) today in a letter to heads of state in advance of the 32ndASEAN Summit.
“As regional integration proceeds, it is imperative for ASEAN to ensure that a focus on human rights is included in all pillars and sectors of the organization. ASEAN must also strengthen the protection mandates of its human rights bodies, if it seeks to be seen as a credible and outward-looking regional bloc,” the letter reads.
The letter comes on the heels of a series of setbacks for democracy and human rights in Southeast Asia in the past 12 months. APHR has previously highlighted concerning situations in a number of countries, including a brutal military campaign in Myanmar against the minority Rohingya, an unprecedented assault on independent civil society and the opposition in Cambodia, and attacks on press freedom from governments across the region.
“In the last year, we have seen an especially alarming regression of democracy and human rights protections region-wide. It is deeply worrying that ASEAN has largely stood by silently as the problems have mounted, and that mechanisms such as the AICHR and ACWC still lack the mandate or capacity to properly address them,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago.
Singapore, as Chair of the bloc for 2018, has prioritized efforts to address emerging security challenges and promote economic integration through innovation, which are expected to be key themes for discussion at the upcoming Summit on 26-28 April. While supportive of these priorities, APHR emphasized in its letter the importance of addressing these challenges holistically.
Parliamentarians stressed the need to tackle a broad set of emerging security concerns, including those that emanate from a lack of accountability and adherence to the rule of law within states, highlighting, in particular, the plight of the Rohingya.
“In recent weeks, Malaysia and Indonesia have seen the arrival of boats carrying Rohingya fleeing longstanding persecution in Myanmar; this is clearly a regional concern. ASEAN can help put an end to this crisis, but it must address rights abuses in tandem with the multitude of other security challenges concerning member states,” said Indonesian MP Eva Kusuma Sundari, an APHR Board member.
In the context of economic integration, MPs highlighted concerns about the rights of local communities, including indigenous communities, as well as the need for better safeguards for migrant workers, calling on ASEAN leaders to ensure that the ASEAN Community is able to become a truly people-centered one.
“As ASEAN’s integration effort accelerates, we must push harder for economic development that is inclusive and sustainable. It’s time for ASEAN to send a strong message that economic growth at the expense of the welfare of the people, is unacceptable and cannot be considered progress at all,” Charles Santiago argued.
MPs also urged their leaders to return to and strengthen core elements of the ASEAN Charter, adopted during Singapore’s previous Chairmanship in 2007.
“This is an opportune time for Singapore to continue what it started and take the lead towards achieving the human rights aspirations laid out in the Charter,” Eva Sundari concluded.
“The ASEAN Charter mandates that member states respect and promote democracy, good governance, sustainable development, and human rights, honorable promises that ring hollow unless proper mechanisms are put in place, including the identification and implementation of strategic indicators.”
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Nov 9, 2020 | RM, Statements
JAKARTA – The adoption at last week’s ASEAN Summit of a new regional Consensus covering the rights of migrant workers fails to provide adequate protections for them region-wide, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today.
While commending ASEAN leaders for coming to an agreement on the importance of safeguarding migrant workers’ rights, the collective of regional lawmakers said that the final document – the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers – was not enough. MPs argued that more robust protections are needed, including through a legally binding regional treaty.
“This Consensus fails to meet the basic criteria that we, along with many civil society organizations, have been calling for: a legally-binding document that would provide genuine protections in accordance with international human rights law,” said APHR Board Member Teddy Baguilat, a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.
The Consensus adopted last week came a decade after the approval of the 2007 Cebu Declaration, which called for the development of an instrument to protect migrant workers’ rights. Although ASEAN leaders claimed that the Consensus marked the culmination of this effort, regional MPs said that language in the document – particularly repeated clauses qualifying commitments as being “subject to national laws, regulations, and policies” – undermined its potential impact and reflected the problematic approach of previous ASEAN documents, including the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.
“The Consensus affords wide latitude to states to limit protections in accordance with domestic laws and policies, essentially allowing them to selectively opt out of adherence to critical provisions. We have seen this sort of qualifying language in ASEAN documents before, and those have been implemented in ways that have allowed for the continued violation of the rights of millions of ASEAN citizens,” Baguilat said.
“It is extremely disappointing that ASEAN leaders decided to limit the scope of migrant workers’ rights in this way. Human rights are universal and should supersede domestic law, not be curtailed by it.”
The comments from regional legislators come several months after the conclusion of an APHR-led fact-finding mission to Malaysia in August, during which a delegation of current and former parliamentarians from four ASEAN member states looked into conditions for migrant workers and ways in which their situation could be improved. The findings from the mission, as well as policy recommendations based on them, were published in a summary report released in September.
“What we found in Malaysia is applicable to all countries in the region. There is a widespread lack of political will to truly address and bring to an end rights violations against migrant workers,” said Baguilat, who took part in the August mission.
“ASEAN has time and again shown that it can say the right things. But when it comes time for action, critical commitments are conveniently ignored by member governments. We are concerned, based on our findings, that enforcement of the Consensus at the domestic level will be insufficient,” Baguilat added.
Parliamentarians said that more needed to be done on the part of ASEAN member states to prove that they had the political will to implement the Consensus and to address the lack of protections for migrant workers at the domestic level.
“Migrant workers are essential to the development of the ASEAN Community. In order to demonstrate a genuine commitment to safeguarding their rights, ASEAN should pursue the development and implementation of a region-wide action plan, including a handbook on common standards,” said APHR Board Member Kasit Piromya, a former Thai MP who also joined the mission to Malaysia in August.
Lawmakers also reiterated their call for a legally binding treaty, echoing calls from civil society.
“The Consensus demonstrates that ASEAN can be progressive in its pronouncements. It recognizes that workers can become undocumented through no fault of their own and extends protections to them, at least rhetorically. But this and other positives are rendered almost meaningless since the document is not legally binding,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, an APHR Board Member and parliamentarian from Indonesia.
“ASEAN was able to agree on a legally binding treaty on human trafficking, so they should be able to do the same for migrant workers. Renewing discussions on a legally binding instrument, along with fast-tracking the development of action plans to implement this Consensus, would be a good way to prove that the political will to address the situation does exist,” Sundari concluded.
Nov 9, 2020 | RM, Statements
JAKARTA – Members of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) released today “Examining Human Rights in the Context of ASEAN Regional Migration,” a summary report of findings from a recently concluded fact-finding mission to Malaysia. The mission, which took place from 3 to 7 August 2017, was aimed at developing a more comprehensive understanding of issues related to migrant workers, refugees, and human trafficking in Malaysia and in the broader ASEAN region, as well as developing a series of recommendations to address concerns.
The post-mission report highlights key findings from the visit, including rights abuses against migrant workers, a failure of sending countries and embassies to support and protect their nationals, a lack of adequate protections for asylum seekers and refugees, and a lack of concrete measures to address human trafficking at its roots. The report also includes preliminary recommendations aimed at the Malaysian government, other Southeast Asian governments, and ASEAN as a regional body.
“For far too long, ASEAN governments have taken little to no action to protect migrant workers and their families. Refugees also face immense hurdles to recognition and protection region-wide. In an increasingly integrated ASEAN region, it is critical that governments engage in a coordinated effort to ensure that the rights of all people are protected,” said APHR Board Member Teddy Baguilat, a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, who participated in the fact-finding mission.
“This report highlights not only our findings related to the human rights implications of migration in ASEAN, but also some of the concrete steps that governments and ASEAN bodies can take to address the situation.”
The report is available here.
