CARAM Asia Press Statement: Health Rights For Migrant Workers Is The Key, Not Discrimination

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

CARAM Asia notes that many in the public and governmental sphere have started to raise questions about the link between foreign workers and the rise of certain diseases. As a regional network that works directly on the issue of health and mobility we would like to clarify our own perspective on these matters based on our own research and to argue why policies such as mandatory testing of migrant workers as a screening mechanism for employment and work permits, does more harm than good in the interest of public health. Furthermore, we would like to remind both the government and the public that unlike nationals, migrant workers are continually denied access to affordable healthcare services and are already subject to increasingly discriminatory measures that exclude them from the workplace.

There are currently around 2.5 million documented migrant workers and a further million undocumented in Malaysia, and despite the fact that many migrants work in dangerous, difficult and demeaning modes of employment, the vast majority continue to be denied access to even the most basic health care services.

At the outset, migrant workers are forced to undergo medical screening before issued with a work permit within the country, and this is often excused in the public sphere as a precondition to fight HIV and other diseases. At the outset, the imposed determination of whether a migrant is HIV positive and using that status to exclude the individual from entry or continued stay may have the perverse effect of creating incentives for those migrants to avoid legal routes of entry and encourage illegal entry or falsification of supporting documents. Furthermore, groups such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) have continually shown that these methods have little success in fighting the spread of the virus, and this reduces the argument to one which signifies HIV as that of a foreign problem.

Despite the fact that the National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS (NSP 2006-2010) identified migrant workers as one of the key vulnerable groups who are at risk of infection, CARAM Asia notes with grave concern that there still remains no targeted national programmes and services for HIV prevention for migrant workers within Malaysia.

A person’s HIV status should not be used as an indication of fitness to work and although HIV is a communicable disease, it is only transmitted through specific behaviours. Therefore, education on the prevention of the virus remains the best public health approach in protecting both the public and the migrant, not discrimination and exclusion. Moreover, as a result of the country deporting migrants due to their status, many migrants who fear that they have become infected while in the country, do not access medical channels for fear of deportation, thus having a detrimental effect on both their individual lives and the overall fight against the virus.

The mandatory testing policy used in Malaysia is in direct contradiction to the International Labour Organisation’s Code of Practice on Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS at the Workplace which states that HIV positive workers have the right to continue working and access to treatment and care as they are able to work.

If the government is concerned over the rise of diseases amongst foreign workers, then it is crucial that they immediately address the health of migrants at all levels of the process including conditions within detention camps. Over the past six years there have been approximately 1,300 custodial deaths of undocumented migrants in Malaysian detention camps, many of which could have been prevented had these people been given access to adequate health services. The recent case of two Burmese who died in Juru detention camp due to Leptospirosis, usually caused by animal waste contaminating water or food, underlines the urgent need to provide health, cleanliness and healthcare to prevent such needless deaths.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the spread of diseases in overcrowded detention centres, there is an urgent need for the government to provide greater oversight mechanisms that would seek to provide accountability of the governing authorities including the immediate disbandment of Ikatan Relawan Rakyat (RELA).

It is in light of all these aforementioned factors that CARAM Asia recommends the following to the government of Malaysia;

Ensure migrant workers have full access to workers medical reports. The withholding of this information is a breach of privacy rights.

Sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

The mandatory testing policy is in contradiction to the Code of Practice on Prevention and Management of HIV/AIDS at the Workplace which states that HIV positive workers have the right to continue working and access to treatment and care as they are able to work. The Code of Practice – 2001 is initiated by the Human Resources Ministry.

Harmonise all laws and policies on health testing to ensure that any testing that migrants must undergo adheres to internationally accepted standards that include: informed consent, confidentiality, pre and post-test counselling, and proper referral to treatment, care and support services.

Provide health care information and affordable health care services for unskilled migrant workers to promote good health among this group of low wage workers. The government must ensure that pre and post counselling and prevention information is given in a way that migrants can understand.

Provide oversight mechanisms of accountability that would mean officers and persons responsible for the acts or omissions that resulted in death and suffering should be charged and prosecuted for these crimes.

The Director General of Immigration must remain committed to the departmental pledge that cleanliness and hygiene should be readdressed in detention centres with new measures taken and this must be continually reviewed with its findings made public.

Immediate disbandment of Ikatan Relawan Rakyat (RELA).

Joint CSO Statement: ASEAN Should Establish a Human Rights Body That is Not Below International Standards

(Bangkok, 18 June 2009) Civil Society Organizations in the region are concerned that ASEAN is about to establish a human rights body that is below international standards. The Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TF-AHR), a network of more than 50 organizations, is apprehensive that the final draft of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the establishment of the ASEAN Human Rights body (AHRB) will result in a body that will be engaged mostly in the promotion of human rights, while lacking a mandate in protection work. The TOR is planned to be adopted by the ten Foreign Ministers in the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Phuket, Thailand, in July.

“It is disturbing that we are only a month away from the AMM, yet, we continue to hear that the protection mandate and the appointment of independent experts are yet to be included in the TOR,” says Rafendi Djamin, the coordinator of Indonesian’s NGO Coalition for International Human Rights Working Group (HRWG).

“ASEAN should not go below international standards when setting up the ASEAN human rights body,” stressed Djamin, who is also Convenor of the SAPA TF-AHR.

NGOs are not rejecting ASEAN’s plan to promote human rights but stressed that the AHRB should be empowered to carry out protection work to address human rights violations in the region.

Yap Swee Seng, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA said that “while the promotion of human rights is essential, in a region where human rights violations are common place, it is of paramount importance that the first regional human rights protection mechanism in Asia should have the mandate to carry out on-site visits to inquire into specific human rights concerns as well as to investigate human rights violations”.

He added “The experience of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) showed that when they visited Argentina in 1979, they received 5,000 complaints. The ensuing report remains one of the most important reports prepared by the IACHR as it showed patterns of how people were detained, taken to secret detention centres and then extra-judicially executed.”

Thun Saray, the President of Cambodian Human Rights and Development (ADHOC), also Cambodian focal point of SAPA TF-AHR said “Another key role for a human rights body would also be to assess and review the general human rights situation in the region and to publish reports and recommendations for collective action at the regional level.” He pointed out that this mechanism differs from the universal periodic review (UPR) process of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UPR leaves the implementation of each country’s commitments to that particular country itself.

Wathshlah Naidu, the Gender Focal Point for SAPA TF-AHR and Programme Officer of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, stressed that appointing experts to serve on the AHRB is vital. “They should serve in their personal capacity to promote and protect human rights. The selection process of these experts should be transparent, carried out after extensive and meaningful consultations with civil society,” says Ms Naidu.

“The body must provide human rights protection mechanism to ensure just remedies for all victims. A body with teeth should be established, and not another toothless mechanism ” says Sinapan Samydorai, the Singapore Country Focal Point of SAPA TF-AHR and the Convenor of the SAPA Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers.

“We envision an ASEAN Human Rights body that complies with the Paris Principles. It must be to fulfill the ASEAN peoples’ legitimate expectations for a body that can protect their rights,” added Sister Cres Lucero, Philippines Country Focal Point for SAPA TF-AHR and the Deputy Director of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines.

SAPA TF-AHR was established during the first Regional Consultation on ASEAN and Human Rights in Kuala Lumpur on 26-28 August 2007. It is a network of civil society organisations which aims to a) hold ASEAN member states accountable to their international and domestic human rights obligations, and b) make the ASEAN human rights mechanisms more accountable and effective. Early in 2009, the SAPA TFAHR launched the campaign on “we want ASEAN human rights commission with teeth!: accountable, effective and independent”.

For more information, please contact:

Yap Swee Seng, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (in Bangkok), +6681 868 9178, yap@forum-asia.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rafendi Djamin, Indonesia’s NGO Coalition on International Human Rights Advocacy (in Jakarta), +6281311442159, rafendi@hrwg.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sr. Cres Lucero, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (in Manila), +632 437 8054, clucerosfic@yahoo.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thun Saray, Cambodia Human Rights and Development (in Phnom Penh), +855 23 218653, adhoc@forum.org.khThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sinapan Samydorai, Think Centre, (in Singapore), 6594791906, samysd@yahoo.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Future Use of Migrant Worker Remittances

Monday, June 22, 2009

Written by David Soysa and first published in Sri Lanka Guardian (June 20th)

It is generally feared that many Sri Lankan migrants and their families will be the hardest hit by the current global recession, as they are paid low wages and given a low status. Domestic workers continue to be abused and exploited.

Like other developing countries, we too relied on migrant remittances, to service our debt repayments, stabilize foreign exchange reserves, and spur economic growth.

As with other countries a topic for urgent consideration today is how would the global recession affect ‘Decent Work for Migrants’ Juan Somavia, Director General – ILO in addressing the current crisis declared ‘Decent Work opportunities at home would pave the way for migration by choice not necessity.’
This implies a sacred responsibility on countries of origin to create decent jobs locally for their people and develop sustainable programmes at home for would be migrants.

It requires comprehensive action, aimed at providing training and skill formation for the majority of overseas job seekers as well as returnee migrants. Removal of “vulnerabilities” towards migrants would ensure their reintegration into communities left behind. For this purpose governments should provide skills upliftment and certification for those in search of overseas migration opportunities and Development Programmes as well as Micro-credit facilities, where necessary, to enable early re-entry to the national labour force on their return.

The liberation of the North and East Sri Lanka recently, from terrorism, presents further challenges and opportunities. Notwithstanding the many problems that inevitably surface, it gives an opportunity “to turn gun barrels into plough shears”.

The President of Sri Lanka remembered the large mass of Sri Lankan expatriates who left Sri Lanka since the regretted Black July episode and during the last few decades of war, invited them to return and participate as a responsible Diaspora in the development and growth of a neglected, yet once fruitful land, they owned as they left in a hurry.

To demonstrate the government’s commitments, the Central Bank offered the Diaspora community an opportunity to invest in Treasury Bills and Bonds with attractive rates of interest.

The Bank offered a bonus interest on NRFC savings accounts too. The use of worker remittances and diaspora inflows offer a critical opportunity to overcome several insidious effects of migration for overseas employment.

It is in this context that we wish to re-emphasize the significance of implementing fully provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families ratified by Sri Lanka in 1996 which grants social, political and economic and cultural rights on all migrants.

The writer, Director, Migrant Services Centre (MSC)

A Weekly Day off is the Right of Foreign Domestic Workers (CARAM Asia Statement)

Friday, June 19, 2009

As regional network, foreign and local domestic workers associations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations working on issues related to migrant workers, we welcome the recent move by the Malaysian government to provide a mandatory paid day off for foreign domestic workers (FDW).

As a major destination country within the region, the Malaysian government’s move to enforce a weekly paid day off for FDWs by incorporating the provision in the Employment Act by the end of this year is certainly a mark of social change. However if the Malaysian government wishes to protect the rights of FDWs, there is an urgent need for a more comprehensive measure. This can only be achieved by incorporating a mandatory standard contract into the Employment Act to address the specificity of domestic work, issues related to gender and the home as a private sphere.

While employers enjoy the benefit of at least a day off a week, the nature of domestic work usually means that most FDWs are on call for work twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. It is time that all levels of Malaysian society recognise the contribution FDWs make throughout society, by granting them the same labour rights and protection that is accommodated to any other worker who deserves a day’s rest from work for the sake of their physical and psychological well being.

As such we call on the Malaysian government to implement these initial changes to legislation as swiftly as possible. Furthermore, domestic workers must be given the choice between financial compensation or the day off and must not be compelled by employers to only take the compensation in place of the day off. FDWs must be empowered to have the choice.

FDWs are usually confined to their employer’s household and lack the means to access health services and legal redress mechanism should they face abuse. Due to the nature of home being viewed as simply a private sphere rather than as a place of work, domestic workers are isolated from public scrutiny. Perpetuators usually have little to fear from the criminal justice system. Unless the home is recognised as a workplace under these conditions and those employed within are protected in terms of their labour and human rights, the problem will continue and the abuses left unchecked.

Under existing legislation, domestic workers in Malaysia are defined as “servants” under the Malaysian Employment Act 1955, and as such they are currently excluded from regulations relating to such issues as rest days, hours of work, and termination benefits. As a “domestic servant” defined by the Employment Act, the domestic worker in Malaysia can only claim for unpaid wages in the labour courts.

The situation is further compounded by the fact that FDW are the lowest paid workers (especially Indonesians who constitute the majority of FDW) in the absence of a legal minimum wage. Yet, with their passports and other legal documents held by employers or agents, they risk arrest by the immigration services and RELA if they attempt to leave their employers to access the justice system. Moreover, the mechanisms there are in place, such as the government funded helpline, is inaccessible to FDWs who are constantly under the surveillance of their employer.

It is within this context that we call on the Malaysian government to incorporate a mandatory standard employment contract into the Employment Act according the same range of labour rights as any other workers. Any such measures must herein address the specificity and nature of their employment arrangement. We note with great concern that as the job description of the FDW is arbitrarily defined by employers, the current legal framework do not protect them from exploitation. In many cases, FDWs find themselves working not only in the employer’s house but also in the homes of employers’ relatives, restaurants and other business outlets owned by their employer. As a result, some FDWs have to work as long as sixteen hours a day, seven days a week without a break in a year.

Malaysia’s move to amend its domestic legislation would also mark a move to fall in line with international labour and human rights standards. The country has already committed to uphold human rights protections through its ratification of both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). As such, the Malaysian government must acknowledge its commitment to this through its transference of these principles into domestic law with subsequent enforcement. Only then will their commitments to international obligations be met, and the rights of women and children be guaranteed under the law.

The General Comment 26 of the CEDAW Convention acknowledges that domestic work should be protected by labour laws and entitled to wage and hour regulations, health and safety codes, holiday and vocation leave regulations etc. This convention adopted by Malaysia also states that ‘these laws should include mechanisms by which to monitor the workplace conditions of migrant women…’ If the state can hold perpetrators of violence against women accountable for what they did in private homes, they must also monitor the working conditions of FDWs.

Malaysia has also ratified several ILO conventions, including the ILO Forced Labour Convention (No. 29), the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), and the ILO Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (No. 98). As such, Malaysia has an obligation to protect the rights of workers as set forth in those treaties.

Next year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will start working on the process of adopting a new standard for domestic workers that could possibly lead to a new specific Domestic Workers Convention. Therefore, if Malaysia can amend and make additions to domestic legislation on domestic workers, it will be a progression in line with the international community that will convene during the 2010 ILO Conference on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

Therefore we reiterate our call that the government should:

Incorporate a comprehensive mandatory standard contract for domestic workers into the Employment Act without discrimination on the workers’ nationalities stating clearly terms and condition of work with well defined job scope, a minimum wage and prohibiting employers or agents to keep a domestic workers’ passport and any other personal legal documents. This contract spells out all the labour rights for FDWs in the Employment Act which would then be enforceable as part of the Employment Act.
Ensure the right to a paid day off for all domestic workers is enforced by the end of 2009 as announced by the Human Resources Minister.
Develop redress mechanisms for more effective accountability of non-State actors (employers, recruitment agencies, brokers) for violations against domestic workers.
This statement is written by:

CARAM Asia, a regional network representing 29 NGOs and CBOs across Asia with its secretariat based in Malaysia.

Endorsed by the organisations below in Malaysia:

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

TENAGANITA, Malaysia

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Malaysia.

The Justice, Peace and Solidarity in Mission Office, The Good Shepherd Sisters

Women's Aid Organisation

Health Equity Initiatives, Malaysia

Endorsed by the organisations across Asia below:

Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE), Inc, Philippines

Adaleh Center, Jordan

Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), (a regional network)

Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB), Hong Kong

Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Macau

Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Jakarta

Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Hong Kong

Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Bahrain

CARAM Cambodia, Cambodia

Community Development Services, Sri Lanka

Committee for Asian Women (CAW) (a regional network)

Development Action for Women Network (DAWN), Philippines

Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E.), Singapore

Human Development Organization(HDO), Sri Lanka

Mission For Migrant Workers - Hong Kong.

Migrante International

NIDS (Nepal Institute of Development Studies)

Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program(OKUP), Bangladesh

Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity for Human Rights), Indonesia

St. John's Cathedral HIV Education Centre, Hong Kong

The Executive Commitee Members of Transient Workers Count Too, Singapore

United Indonesians Against Overcharging (PILAR), Hong Kong.

Endorsed by independent individuals below:

Eleanor C. Conda, Independent human rights advocate, Philippines

Russell Heng, Vice President, Transient Workers Count Too, Singapore

Shelley Thio, Executive Committee Member, Transient Workers Count Too, Singapore

72 Filipinos arrested in Saudi for 'gay' behavior (GMA News)

MANILA, Philippines- Wearing drag at a private event may be harmless fun in many societies, but 72 Filipino men found out they could suffer imprisonment and lashing in Saudi Arabia for such activities after they were arrested for immorality recently.

An article in the Arabic news site www.sabq.org said several “deviants," a term used by Saudi Arabia ’s English-language media to describe people who engage in gay behavior, were rounded up during a concert inside a compound in an eastern Riyadh neighborhood.

The report quoted unnamed police officials as saying a "large number of foreign workers" were arrested in the incident, and 72 of them have Philippine citizenship.


Vice Consul Roussel Reyes of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh told GMANews.TV by phone on Tuesday that they are still confirming the identities of the Filipinos and will seek their employers’ help to bail them out.

Open display of homosexual behavior is strictly prohibited under Saudi Arabia ’s Sharia’h law. In extreme cases, such as when the government feels that homosexuals are challenging state authority, the maximum punishment for the act is public execution.

Normally, however, other punishments such as fines, imprisonment, and whipping as alternatives. Individuals caught wearing even just one article of women’s clothing could face three to six months imprisonment, and suffer between 50 and 100 lashes with a rattan stick.

Reyes said nearly 50 other Filipinos have been arrested and jailed in the past for similar violations.

Only sponsors are able to bail out foreign workers who are imprisoned, as long as they provide assurance that the accused would show up in court during trial.

In August last year, Saudi Arabia ’s Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested several Filipinos in a gay party in the country’s eastern province for "lewd behavior" as well as possession of drugs and alcohol. Arrested foreign nationals are often deported after serving their jail sentence. - GMANews.TV

Maids to get one day off, govt to make surprise checks

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The following article was written by Zalinah Noordin and was published in The Star on Wednesday 17th June;

PETALING JAYA: It would soon be compulsory for foreign maids to be given one rest day in a week, to be determined between the employer and the domestic servant as part of the compulsory employment contract, the Human Resources Ministry has decided.

Its minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said that the Labour Department was currently drafting a standard employment contract for foreign maids to be used by prospective employers.

The standard contract, he said, would be furnished to the Immigration Department, which would have to verify adherence to its terms before approving any application for or renewal of visas for foreign maids.

The Labour Department will share with Immigration information on existing employers employing foreign maids.

The proposed move is part of measures which would be taken to improve the management of the employment of domestic servants and foreign domestic servants, Subramaniam said.

He said that the measures were necessary to handle the flood of exploitation and abuse cases involving foreign domestic servants.

“We have come up with measures to improve the foreign workers employment scenario in Malaysia.

These measures would be implemented “as soon as they have been approved by the Attorney-General within this year,” Subramaniam told reporters at a press conference after the ministry’s closed-door meeting with companies that employ foreign domestic servants at Wisma Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad here on Tuesday.

Also at the meeting was the director-general of the Manpower Department of the Human Resources Ministry, Romli Hassan.

Surprise checks
The Labour Department will also make random enforcement visits to places where foreign maids are employed to check on their welfare and to ensure that all rules and terms of employment were adhered to.

The enforcement teams would include female officers, and this exercise will begin immediately, Subramaniam said.

“During the visits, if maids are found working other than where they are supposed to be employed, corrective action will be taken.

“This would include reporting to Immigration to take appropriate action against these employers, including withdrawing their permits,” he added.

Employers wishing to employ foreign maids must also furnish Immigration with a contract of employment which contains terms and conditions of services relating to wages, rest days and insurance coverage.

Subramaniam said that currently about 231,355 foreign maids reside and work in Malaysia.

Compulsory Weekly Day Off For Domestic Workers

Monday, June 15, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) wants the government to declare a compulsory weekly day off for domestic workers to enable them to go to the Labour Department in case they need to report any mistreatment.

Referring to the case of Indonesian maid Siti Hajar who calimed that she was abused by her employer for the past three years, MTUC secretary-general G. Rajasekaran said this measure must be taken due to the rising reports of abuse, torture and inhumane treatment among foreign domestic workers.

"Compelling domestic workers to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year is not illegal," he said, adding that this group of workers, numbering more than 300,000 throughout the country, were also not entitled to any legal protection.

"The only protection the workers have is that they can go to the Labour Department to complain about non-payment of monthly salaries, but without a weekly day off they are denied free movement," he said in a statement here Tuesday.

He urged the Human Resources Ministry not to turn a blind eye to these reports as thousands of foreign domestic workers in the country were made to endure beatings, poor living conditions, and suffer in silence.

Siti Hajar, 33, from west Java, who could no longer stand the abuses, fled from her employer's residence in Lanai Kiara Kondominium, Mount Kiara, yesterday.

She also claimed that she had not been paid any salary since the first month of her employment and the total salary due to her now stands at RM17,000.

The Indonesian ambassador here, Tan Sri Da'i Bactiar, told reporters yesterday that Siti Hajar was not only beaten but was only fed plain rice and occasionally with pork.