Statement: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants on 100th anniversary of International Women's Day

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) is one with the exploited women of the world in the commemoration of the 100th year of the International Women's Day and in their continuing fight for comprehensive rights in society.

Many of such oppressed women are migrant workers and immigrants including those who are undocumented or in an irregular status. Their conditions have been exacerbated by the failure of neo-liberal globalization and have led to more discriminatory and restrictive policies imposed by governments of labour importing countries.

One such policy is the national verification scheme of Thailand which is a guise to set the stage for a massive crackdown on undocumented foreign workers and refugees which already started in March 3. This would affect a million and a half persons, most of who are from Burma.

In the Middle East and in Taiwan most of those who run away from their employers are female domestic workers who were abused. Instead of being accorded protection and assistance by government authorities, those who were accused by their employers of absconding in the Middle East end up being jailed instead.

While in South Korea, Macau, Malaysia and in many other countries there is no let up in the intensification of the crackdown on undocumented migrant workers many of whom are women. Being in an irregular status makes them criminals in the eyes of these governments. And they have no rights whatsoever and physical and sexual abuse on them is done with impunity.

Even those who offer humanitarian assistance to them like food and shelter are likewise categorized as criminals. In Macau there is a new law being discussed that would make it a criminal offense for one who rents out a flat to undocumented migrants. Ironically, there is another law set to take effect on April 26, 2010 that would push migrant workers to become undocumented. This pertains to a provision which stipulates that if a non-resident worker initiates the termination of a contract without just cause he/she would be banned to work in the territory for 6 months.

Ironically, some of the countries in the region that are some of the most vicious to attack the rights of women are also in the ASEAN formation that will soon come up with a regional instrument on the rights of women and children.

Indeed the lives of these women who toil far from their shores are almost similar to the conditions of working women in industrially developing countries 100 years ago. There is still a lot of effort needed to be done in organizing and empowering migrant women workers including those who are undocumented and in encouraging more people to advocate their cause. Examples of this include the member organizations of KASAMMAKO (a Filipino alliance) and the formation of the Migrants Trade Union (MTU) both in South Korea.

Other than this, we shall advance and continue to develop unities achieved in the formations like the AMMORE or Action Network for Marriage Migrants Rights and Empowerment, the network on undocumented migrants and the Migrants Caucus on the ASEAN

We shall also push the advocacies on domestic workers of the United for Foreign Domestic Workers’ Rights (UFDWR) and contribute to the strengthening and expansion of the International Migrants Alliance or IMA.

We enjoin all grassroots women to actively take part in the establishment of the International Women’s Alliance in August this year. The formation of the IWA shall be another important milestone in the continuing struggle of women for emancipation.

Until the cause for freedom and social justice is achieved, the fire that started in the first International Women’s Day shall continue to burn in the oppressed women of the world,

March 8, 2010

==============================
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM)
G/F, No.2 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR

Tel. no.: (852) 2723-7536
Fax no.: (852) 2735-4559
General E-mail:  apmm@hknet.com

Other Email Addresses:
Managing Director :  director@apmigrants.org / rbultron@gmail.com
Advocacy Program :  advocacy@apmigrants.org / rbultron@gmail.com
Research and Publication:  publications@apmigrants.org / ahc@hknet.com
Women's Program :  women@apmigrants.org / ecbuhay@gmail.com

WEBSITE: http://www.apmigrants.org

"We dream of a society where families are not broken up by the urgent need for survival."
"We dream and will actively work for a homeland where there is opportunity for everyone to live a decent and humane life."

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: Strengthening the Voices of Migrant Women

March 1, 2010

By Pet Cleto

Participants in the Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body for International Women’s Day education session on women’s struggles in Toronto.

TORONTO — Awakened and courageous hearts were beating loud last February 21, 2010, as the Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body for International Women’s Day opened its second education day for 2010 with a drum-beating by Cherokee and Ojibway activist Amber O’Hara (Waabnong Kwe). The women were around 60-strong but there were some male supporters in the audience. They represented various community organizations and unions from different migrant workers’ communities, desiring to share with others and learn from each other.

The Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body was organized three years ago by women who aimed to strengthen the voices of migrant women and make them an important force for change in Canadian society. Its member organizations are: GABRIELA, Migrante-Ontario, BASICS Free Community Newsletter, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Justice 4 Migrant Workers, METRAC, Canadian HART, SAWRO, and CUPE Local 4308.

While the first education day (January 21, 2010) focused on international and liberation struggles of the various countries from which migrant women workers come from, the February education day highlighted women’s struggles in Toronto and Canada.

Xolisiwe (Connie) Ndlovu, now the Vice-president of CUPE Local 4308 and a personal support worker, is a refugee from Zimbabwe. She spoke of her fight, since 2002, against the obstacles put on the path of many newcomers by class conflict, racism, and imperialism. Her story starts, like most newcomer stories start, with the demeaning of her previous education and work experience. In her union work, she now challenges issues produced by racism and class-conflict: low wages, lack of benefits and inadequate sick leaves. A strong advocate for equality and equity in our society, she sees the oppression inflicted on women and children today as a violence that is done in the name of “capitalism”.

Amber O’Hara spoke about Canada’s missing or murdered aboriginal women, in whose honour she has dedicated her 18-year long work of research and documentation. The women victims now total 800 in her list, and most of their cases remain unresolved. In 1993 she formed Manitou Kwe singers, a women’s hand drum group which performs specifically these aboriginal women and as well, for justice for people in prisons. Her activism is also driven by a personal loss: the murder of her cousin Carolyn Connolly on August 2, 2008.

Nine organizations were represented in the education day of International Women’s Day held in Toronto on Feb. 21, 2010.

For Migrante-Canada, former live-in caregiver Maria Sol Pajadura spoke about the various issues on which Migrante and the various organizations within its coalition has undertaken dynamic organizing in order to raise awareness and sharpen the urgent need to make changes in the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Pointing out that the oppression and exploitation of LCP workers had been locked into place by the tandem of the Philippine government’s Labour Export Policy and the flawed government regulations and policies related to the LCP, she said that Migrante’s recent campaigns have recently created some impact on the Canadian government, and some favourable changes have been made.

However, the fundamental changes that Migrante has raised and brought to the attention of politicians still await some government action. Among them: permanent residency upon arrival, the un-locking of LCP workers from the two-year live-in requirement, and the ratification of the ILO Convention for Migrant Workers and their Families (which would give migrant workers equal rights as workers who are native to the migrant workers’ “host countries”).

The South Asian Women’s Rights Organization (SAWRO) was represented by Sultana Jahangir, who very vividly described the different specific forms that imperialism and capitalism take in the lives of migrant and newcomer women. She called upon everyone to continue sharing their experiences, and to join their hands together in order to advance their common objectives.

Speaking about her work at the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Ambreen Akbar also gave testimony to the numerous instances when exploitation and oppression have made, and continue to make, the lives of women almost unbearable.

The Migrant Women’s Coordinating Body welcomes the public to its cultural celebration on Friday evening, March 5, Friday, at the Steelworkers’ Hall, in honour of women’s struggles and victories. On International Women’s Day this year, on Saturday, March 6, it will lead a contingent of workers’ groups, grouping together in front of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at 252 Bloor Street West, to join the IWD march as a valiant voice of migrant women workers in Canada. A potent voice for the liberation of Canada’s migrant women has risen.##

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: Strengthening the Voices of Migrant Women

IMA calls Thai Government to withdraw crackdown plan on migrants

Press Release
February 26, 2010

The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) expressed grave concern over the possible impact of a planned crackdown by the Thai Royal Government on more than 1.4 million migrant workers, mostly from Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

According to the IMA, the crackdown is a wishy-washy move of the Thai government to target migrant workers who have failed to submit to the national verification scheme it has recently implemented. The said national verification scheme requires all migrant workers with a two-year work permit to complete a difficult 13-step application process for visa extension.

While the scheme’s deadline was reportedly moved a month earlier (on March 31), the crackdown will still be immediately implemented thereafter.

“Physical abuse, maltreatment and subhuman conditions these are but a few of bad things to come to migrant workers who will be arrested and detained once the Thai government pursues its crackdown,“ said Eni Lestari, chairperson of the IMA. “The Thai government should rethink this plan as it does not only violate a number of regional and international conventions but tramples upon the basic rights of migrant workers.”

Lestari likewise lamented the possible threat the crackdown will have on the Burmese refugees, who make up 80% of the targeted migrants. She said: “Should the crackdown push through, Burmese refugees will not only be subjected to arrest and detention but forced back into a country where they fear for their lives – the very reason they left.”

The crackdown, said Lestari, shall violate the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers which the Thai government recently signed. “With a tarnished human rights record after its maltreatment of the Rohingyas in early 2009, the Thai government could never assure anyone that it shall protect migrant workers,” added Lestari.

The IMA likewise sounded the alarm over the apparently calibrated attack on migrant workers at a global scale. Thailand is the latest government to impose a crackdown on migrant workers following Australia (who recently imposed a crackdown on skilled migrants), Italy and Malaysia.

“It is the most despicable display of hypocrisy on the part of governments who mouth promises to uphold migrants rights but do otherwise,” said Lestari, “Migrant workers, especially the undocumented, are being subjected to criminalization and outright denial of their fundamental rights in countries where more stringent immigration policies are being imposed and racial hatred being fanned”

She retorted further that sending governments should ensure the protection of their citizens and push for agreements with receiving governments to uphold and promote the latter’s rights.

The IMA, the first ever global alliance of grassroots migrant organizations and their advocates, calls on its more than 120 member organizations, friends and the rest of the international community to actively build up the campaign against any crackdown on migrant workers.

“International human rights conventions and laws will remain meaningless in paper if they are not recognized, ratified and actively championed. We call on all migrant workers and refugees to remain vigilant, organize themselves and work with local organizations and movements in stopping this crackdown,” concluded Lestari.

For reference: Eni Lestari
Chairperson, International Migrants Alliance
+852 9608-1475

+++++

Uphold and Protect the Rights of Migrants:
Online Petition to Stop the Impending Massive Crackdown of Undocumented Migrant Workers in Thailand

http://www.PetitionOnline.com/g111257i/petition.html

Global Day of Action for the 254 Tamil Asylum Seekers stranded on a boat in Merak Indonesia

+Please circulate widely+

Global Day of Action for the 254 Tamil Asylum Seekers stranded on a boat in Merak Indonesia

Date:Friday February 19, 2010

Time: 4:00pm - 7:00 pm

Location: Indonesian Consulate - 129 Jarvis street Toronto, Canada

Remember:
There are 31 children and a pregnant women who is due on March 5, 2010 on this boat. Over 254 people have been living on this vessel made to hold 50 people for over four months. Under poor sanitary conditions illnesses have been spreading fast, and they have been denied access to medical assistance.

The situation is only getting worse by the minute!

Come out on this Friday February 19th determined to make a difference. Determination and will power is the strongest of all tools.

Below is a link to the facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=320547412497

Thank you,

Canadian HART Team

IMA condemns Indonesian government's detention of refugee advocates

Press Release: February 2, 2010
For reference: Eni Lestari, Chairperson
Contact # +1 (852) 9608-1475

The International Migrants Alliance condemns the unjust detention of three refugee advocates by the Indonesian authorities last January 26, 2009.

Jessica Chandrashekar of the Canada-based Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils, Pamela Curr of the Melbourne-based Asylum Seeker Resource Center and Australian Tamil Congress member Sara Nathan were on their way to provide humanitarian aid to the more than 240 Tamil asylum seekers stuck in a boat in Merak, Indonesia when they were arrested by the Indonesian authorities.

They were detained, questioned and released by the authorities the following day but was arrested and detained right after. On January 30, news reports stated that the two Australian advocates have been released and deported.

“The detention of the three refugee advocates is not only illegal but a gross violation of their rights and freedoms,” said Eni Lestari, IMA chairperson. “As the Indonesian government continues to ignore the plight of the Tamil refugees in Merak, they had the audacity to capture and detain Jessica, Pamela and Sara who only wanted to help.”

In October 2009, the Indonesian navy intercepted the Australia-bound boat in Merak upon the request of the Australian government. The refugees refused to come ashore fearing they will wait years for resettlement.

The IMA holds both the Indonesian and Australian governments accountable for the plight of the said Tamil asylum seekers. “It is quite ironic that, as international conventions are being signed and ratified to protect migrants and refugees, it is governments like Indonesia and Australia that break the rules and violate their rights. Now, they are extending it to advocates and refugees.”

The IMA calls on an immediate investigation on the said arrest and detention of the refugee advocates as well as challenges international institutions such as the ASEAN in addressing the plight of the Tamil refugees in Merak.

Labor Migration in 2009: A Terrible Year to Be an OFW

The regime of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo changed the face of labor migration in the Philippines. It pursued its labor-export policy aggressively, begging receiving countries to accept more overseas Filipino workers. In the meantime, it shirked its responsibilities toward Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in distress, in many instances even becoming complicit in the abuse of overseas workers.

More at: Labor Migration in 2009: A Terrible Year to Be an OFW - Bulatlat

Ottawa takes steps to protect caregivers - thestar.com

The federal government is moving to protect foreign caregivers from abuse and exploitation while making it easier for them to obtain permanent residency in Canada.

Nannies will now have up to four years to complete a total of two years of work that is necessary to apply for landed status and will no longer have to undergo a second medical examination when they do. And employers wanting to hire a nanny from overseas will have to pick up the travel costs and provide medical coverage until they are eligible for provincial health plans."

More at: Ottawa takes steps to protect caregivers - thestar.com