Migrant workers framework yet to be endorsed

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is one of the Asean countries that has not fully endorsed a legally binding framework on migrant workers, experts said.
This is despite nine years after Asean member states signed the 2007 Asean Declaration for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers.
The Bar Council's Migrants Refugees and Immigration Affairs Committee chairman Datuk M. Ramachelvam said in order for Asean to draw up a legally binding instrument, all member states have to agree to the framework.
"The majority of the Asean member states have endorsed but because Asean works on consensus, it has not drawn up the framework.
"This also calls for all member states to ratify all the international conventions pertaining to migrant workers to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers and their families," he told a press conference yesterday.
This was part of the resolution adopted by Asean Bar Associations after a two-day Conference for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in the Asean Region here.
The conference, co-organised by Bar Council, Migrant Forum in Asia and Lawyers Beyond Borders, agreed to establish a Asean Bar Associations' Coalition on Migration to strengthen cross-border cooperation.
Ramachelvam said the coalition will allow effective communication of issues, play a role in advocacy, working together on capacity building and pushing for legal reforms in the member countries.
Migrant Forum Asia regional coordinator William Gois said the delay in having a legally binding instrument was largely because of lack of political will and member states that decide to work in silos.
He said all Asean countries are interdependent in implementing cross-border policies that would protect the rights of migrant workers in the region.
In the conference, all except for Singapore has reserved its position in adopting the resolutions for the protection of migrant workers.