Latest Press Stories

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Invisible Refugee by Leonie Joubert's new book, Invaded: The Biological Invasion of South Africa, was launched last month
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-09-12-the-invisible-refugee

The term "refugee" isn't one governments want to talk about in the context of climate change: they may be asked to open their borders to people forced to flee because of rising sea levels or extreme weather.

Ed Miliband, the British secretary of state for energy and climate change, sidestepped the issue during a climate change briefing with South African editors in Johannesburg, saying: "The best thing we can do is prevent climate refugees happening.

"I really think the prospect of a world with hundreds of millions of climate refugees is pretty bad,'' he said. "It's important that we take the action that is necessary to prevent that happening, for the sake of the refugees more than anything."

But Miliband didn't say the United Kingdom would accept climate refugees: "I think that the issue points to the urgency of acting on the overall situation."

Well, yes. The International Organisation for Migration predicts that about 200-million people may be looking for somewhere new to live as climate change amplifies existing causes of migration, such as environmental stress and conflict over resources, by 2050.

Greenpeace puts forward a much bigger number: by the middle of this century, one in nine people will be forced to migrate because of climate change.

A small state such as the Maldives, with its 300 000 people living across a series of islands barely above sea level, is already expecting inundation by a 1m rise in sea level projected by the end of this century.

Rising sea levels would also flood vulnerable deltas, including the Nile (home to 10-million people), the Mekong (with more than 14-million people) and the Ganges (where nine million people will likely be affected).

Environmental change is expected to trigger large-scale migration in the Sahel, which faces a future of water shortages and drought.
Downstream of the Himalayan glaciers, about 1,4-billion people in Asia face hunger as runoff disappears along with the glaciers.

As much of the pollution driving climate change has come from the developed world, such countries may well be asked to take responsibility for these climate refugees.

But will they? Later this month signatories of the Kyoto Protocol meet in Thailand in the penultimate effort to streamline the lengthy text that states may sign into life in Denmark in December.

The Copenhagen talks should replace the Kyoto agreement. But there's debate about whether the term "refugee" will be in the next-generation agreement at all. Some prefer the phrase "environmental migrant" -- migrants don't require as much legal protection as refugees, it seems.



Monday, September 14th, 2009, 6:12 am Amman Time | Make this your homepage | Subscribe
There are now 84 days to Copenhagen. An enormous diplomatic challenge lies before us if we are to secure the ambitious, effective and equitable agreement that we need to avert runaway climate change that would have disastrous consequences for Europe and the world.
Around the world, and particularly in the poorest and most vulnerable countries, global warming already threatens to undermine development efforts in health, agriculture and infrastructure. Migration caused by lack of access to water and land is increasing social tension and undermining political stability and security.
Climate change has the potential to bring about substantial geopolitical change. It will increasingly affect the foreign policy decisions of all our countries. European foreign ministries must make a real contribution now to the drive to achieve a deal at Copenhagen. The European Union must show renewed leadership to help unlock the negotiations through its commitment to take ambitious mitigation action at home, and on financial and technological support to help developing countries move to a low carbon growth path.
After the meeting in Copenhagen on September 10, we agree on how to tackle this collective diplomatic challenge. We pledge the following:
- To press for a deal at Copenhagen of sufficient ambition to keep global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees.
- To work to promote an ambitious and equitable international offer in which Europe will take its fair share in financing mitigation, technology and adaptation efforts by developing countries.
- To engage personally to direct the full force of our diplomatic efforts and mobilise the resources of our collective diplomatic networks to persuade the key participants in this negotiation to come forward with ambitious commitments.
- To work to ensure that the challenges climate change poses to international stability and security gets a prominent position on the international agenda.
- To work to ensure that the EU continues to show leadership in the negotiations with a readiness to move from our current commitment of reducing carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, to a commitment to reduce emissions by 30 per cent in the context of an ambitious deal and comparable efforts by the other partners.
Through a strong message on finance for mitigation, adaptation and technology we will contribute towards a deal that gets all countries onboard a new agreement to be reached in Copenhagen.
The Copenhagen conference cannot agree on a new international regime to fight climate change unless we find a political balance among all parties. We must create mutual confidence and trust that the only sustainable global growth path is for us to transform our economies to low carbon. We can make this the great defining cause for Europe in the 21st century.
David Miliband, secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs, UK
Carl Bildt, minister for foreign affairs, Sweden
Per Stig Moller, minister for foreign Affairs, Denmark
Bernard Kouchner, minister of foreign and European affairs, France
Alexander Stubb, minister for foreign affairs, Finland
Miguel Ángel Moratinos, minister for foreign affairs, Spain

14 September 2009


The Jakarta Globe

Protecting climate change refugees
Sunday 13 September 2009 14.00 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/13/climate-change-refugees-law
Communities hardest hit by climate change are also the poorest. Their right to compensation and protection needs to be made law

The phrase "environmental refugee" has been around since the 1970s, with the term "climate refugee" appearing more recently. Although the concept is simple to grasp, these terms have no meaning in international law.
The need to mitigate the effects of climate change has rightly held a high place on the international agenda, but it is only now that the reality of human suffering on a colossal scale, as a consequence of a changing climate, is being given the attention it deserves. I believe environmental security is a human right and, as climate change creates millions of environmental refugees, that this right must henceforth be enshrined in international law.
As early as 1990, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) suggested that the "gravest effects of climate change may be those on human migration." Similar predictions today suggest that 200 million people could be forced from their homes by 2050 due to environmental factors arising from climate change.

Crucially, it is evident that environmental stresses affect communities and regions least able to adapt to change, typically hitting the poorest people on our planet. At the same time, many of the regions and populations that will be most affected, such as Bangladesh or small island developing states such as the Maldives and Seychelles, also have some of the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Historically, they have been responsible for a tiny fraction of the warming gases released, compared with those released by western industrialised nations. For many in the west, the effects of a changing climate remain largely an abstract concept, yet among poorer nations the climate is already devastating the lives of millions.
Meanwhile, there is a complete absence of any formal, enforceable, legal multilateral mechanism designed to address the needs of these people and assist in creating some greater equality and proportionality between those causing climate change and those most affected.

The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was drafted in the immediate aftermath of the second world war; its focus on those who are forced from their country of origin through fear of persecution, "for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion". In today's world, the 1951 convention cannot meet the needs of climate refugees, as its narrow legal definitions will not apply to most of those affected by climate change. Also, the specific desire and best option for many will be to stay within their national boundaries if the financial and technical assistance to do so were forthcoming.

Just as the overarching threat of climate change is one of global responsibility, so is the fate of climate refugees. In this context, there is a clear and compelling imperative to create a new multilateral legal mechanism – and with it a new legal definition for climate refugees – that enshrines the right to life, food, health, water, housing and other essentials. This should apply to all those who are now affected and the millions more who will be affected by the changes in our climate created largely by a distant, and still largely unresponsive, wealthy west.

Every year, climate change leaves more than 300,000 people dead, 325 million people seriously affected, and economic losses of $125bn. If anyone should be in any doubt as to the comparative costs of propping up failing economies, and of protecting millions of people from climate change, the UN has estimated that annual global spending to mitigate the worst effects of climate change amounts to about $0.5bn. Compare that with the $150bn spent by the US federal government to bail out just one failing insurance company, or the top nine US banks which gave over $32bn in bonuses alone that same year.

The recent financial crisis has shown that both political will and financial muscle can be mobilised when the wealth and way of life for the developed world is threatened. Now, in the knowledge that not just the way of life, but the actual existence of many is threatened by climate change, we must mount a similarly forceful response and create a new legal framework for climate refugees alongside the essential action to curb our carbon emissions.

Latest Migrant Developments In The Media

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Foreign Employees Limited, Malaysia Is Suffering Through a Labor Shortage
By LIZ GOOCH (August 31, 2009)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/economy/01labor.html

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — It is lunchtime at the Wangsa Ukay restaurant in suburban Kuala Lumpur, and regulars are coming in for local favorites like roti canai, chicken curry and teh tarik, the sweet, milky drink that is ubiquitous across Malaysia.

The owner, Muneandy Nalepan, has time to stop and talk for now, but when peak times hit on weekends, he and his wife must pitch in to help clear tables.

He used to have a staff of 120 — almost all foreigners — working in his five restaurants across the city. But after the government made it more difficult for businesses to hire workers from abroad, he is down to 80 because he has been unable to replace the 40 employees who had to return home after the maximum work period of five years.

Unable to find Malaysians willing to work as cooks, waiters or dishwashers, he is awaiting approval to employ more foreigners. But if he cannot get more workers soon, he says, he might close one of his outlets. Mr. Muneandy, an 18-year veteran of the industry, is even considering other business ventures.

“To run a restaurant, it’s becoming impossible,” he said.

It is not just restaurant owners who are complaining. Many business owners, like furniture producers and rubber glove manufacturers, say a labor shortage is harming productivity.

In January, Malaysia sharply curtailed the hiring of new foreign workers in the manufacturing and service sectors after a government report predicted that 45,000 people could be laid off during the Lunar New Year at the end of that month, The New Straits Times reported.

“There is no valid reason to bring in foreign workers at this time,” Syed Hamid Albar, the home minister, told the paper.

The action was backed by labor groups. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress proposed a freeze on the recruitment of foreign workers last October.

“Because of the global economic downturn, we were worried about the impact on jobs for Malaysians as well as foreigners,” said Rajasekaran Govindasamy, the group’s secretary general. “We don’t want workers to be brought in and abandoned, because that then causes hardship.”

In 2008, there were an estimated 2.2 million foreigners — mostly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Myanmar and Vietnam — working legally in Malaysia, a nation of 28 million. Some reports suggested the country was home to an additional one million illegal workers. By March this year, the number of foreigners with work permits had fallen to 1.9 million, according to Shamsuddin Bardan, executive director of the Malaysian Federation of Employers.

“About 300,000 permits were not renewed, and people were sent back,” he said.

Malaysia recorded 31,392 layoffs from January through July, and the country’s unemployment rate rose to 4 percent in the first quarter of this year, the latest period for which figures are available. That was up from 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

The average monthly wage in the manufacturing industry has risen to 650 to 700 ringgit ($183 to $197) in the last three months, up from 450 ringgit, the national news agency Bernama reported in August.

Mr. Rajasekaran said foreign workers often accepted lower wages than Malaysians. The country has no minimum wage. Typically, foreigners are brought in by a business offering a job, he said, or by an outsourcing company that promises them work.

Mr. Shamsuddin said that companies could still apply to recruit foreigners but that the process had become more difficult.

For example, he said that since April 1, employers have had to advertise vacancies locally for two months, up from one month, before they could apply to recruit foreigners. And employers must now pay an annual levy — as much as 1,800 ringgit — for any new foreigners they employ, he said. The fee used to be paid by workers. Mr. Shamsuddin said the government abandoned plans to double the levy after the federation complained.

Dominant Semiconductor, a light bulb manufacturer with factories in Malaysia and China, is struggling to fill about 1,000 vacancies. Its chairman, Goh Nan Kioh, said the company was allowed to employ one foreigner for every local worker, but could not find enough Malaysians to help increase its total work force. If the labor shortage continued, he said, the company might consider moving more of its labor-intensive operations to China.

Mohamed Ariff, executive director of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, said the country’s dependence on foreign labor was a result of a decision to “open the floodgates” to migrant workers in the late 1980s, first in the plantation sector, then in manufacturing.

Mr. Ariff said that in the early 1990s, when wages in the manufacturing sector were rising, factories had considered introducing labor-saving technology but that many had shelved those plans when the government let them employ more foreign workers.

“The technology transfer suffered enormously,” he said. “Malaysia was trapped into an unskilled, labor-intensive economy.”

Figures released by the government last week showed that the economy had emerged from recession in the second quarter. Mr. Rajasekaran, the labor leader, said that although job losses were easing, the unions thought the freeze on foreign workers should continue. If there is a need for more workers in the coming months, he said, companies should be able to extend the visas of foreign workers already in the country.



Asia Pacific Countries To Discuss Migrant Labour Issues

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=437025

PETALING JAYA, Aug 31 (Bernama) -- Organising migrant workers in Asia Pacific countries and forming a global network will be among the important issues to be discussed at an international workshop organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) beginning here on Wednesday.

The workshop, to be attended by more than 30 trade union leaders from 17 Asia Pacific countries, will also study the possibility of establishing migrant labour centres in the region.

Countries participating in the two-day workshop, besides Malaysia, include Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Jordan, Bahrain, Mongolia, Nepal, South Korea and Pakistan.

Local co-organiser Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), in a statement today, said the workshop would also facilitate the exchange of information and sharing of experience among participating countries on the issue.

Its vice president, A. Balasubramaniam, said the workshop was timely and significant as the impact of migrant workers both for the sending and receiving countries was substantial, socially and economically.

He said Malaysia would gain much from the workshop as it had a substantial migrant population of more than 1.9 million legal and another 1.2 million illegal workers from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

RI lacks ‘political will’ to help housemaids
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 08/27/2009 9:06 AM

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/27/ri-lacks-%E2%80%98political-will%E2%80%99-help-housemaids.html

Migrant Care, an NGO advocating for the rights of migrant workers, has urged the government to immediately ratify the 2003 ILO convention on the protection of migrant workers and their families to counter increasing abuse against housemaids both at home and abroad.

“The government should no longer have any reasons to delay ratifying this important convention.

They should remember the increasing number of fatalities in workplace, labor extortion both at home and overseas, widespread trafficking of women and children and the increase in HIV/AIDS among sex workers,” Migrant Care executive director, Anis Hidayah, told The Jakarta Post by telephone in Jakarta on Wednesday.

She said the government was reluctant to ratify the convention because it believed the measures would only protect domestic, not international, workers.

“But it is impossible for Indonesia to ask other countries to ratify the convention if it itself does not do it. If all UN member countries ratify the convention, all destination countries employing Indonesian migrant workers will be obliged to take measures to protect them. Likewise, Indonesia will also reciprocate and protect expatriates working here, including housemaids,” she said.

Anis said the number of workers who had either died or been abused at their work places in Malaysia and Middle East had spiked in the last three years, despite the signing of a bilateral labor agreement and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between the two countries.

The ILO convention, which took effect on July 1, 2003, has only been ratified by 35 countries. It stipulates that migrant workers have the right to form a union, be protected from arbitrary dismissal, move to another workplace and seek another job.

A joint working group from Indonesia and Malaysia is still reviewing the bilateral labor agreement but have agreed workers should be allowed one day off per week and be allowed to hold onto their own passport.

Migrant Care called on the joint working group to also allow migrant workers — mainly housemaids — to be allowed to leave their workplace on their day off and visit whoever they feel. They also demanded that workers be able to maintain contact with their relatives back home.

“If workers are not allowed to leave their place of employment on their day off,” Anis said, “then the review becomes quite redundant.”

Anis said it was regrettable the government had decided to not support a proposed convention on international standards for housemaids, which was scheduled to be endorsed at an international labor conference in Geneva in 2011.

“This is a strong indication that the government has no political will to protect workers in the domestic sector and holds no bargaining power to pressure other countries into provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers,” she said.

The government’s decision to support a non-binding recommendation on international standards for housemaids was discussed at a recent meeting between the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and other relevant ministries, including the Home Ministry, Health Ministry, National Development and Planning Board (Bappenas) and the Foreign Ministry.

The ILO office in Jakarta, in cooperation with civil society groups, drafted a bill which deals specifically with the protection of housemaids and gave it to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry. The Ministry, for unspecified reasons, has been reluctant to forward it to the House of Representatives for further deliberation.

The bill outlines minimum wages for housemaids, working hours, extra-hour payments, days off and annual vacation.

“This is a strong indication that the government has no political will to protect workers in the domestic sector and holds no bargaining power to pressure other countries into provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers,”

CARAM Asia Press Statement: International Day of Solidarity with Foreign Domestic Workers Must Lead To Legality of Employment

Friday, August 28, 2009

As today marks a day where the international community seeks to recognise the contribution of foreign domestic workers (FDW), CARAM Asia and its members call on governments throughout the world to immediately amend national employment laws to recognise domestic work as work.

The International Solidarity Day with Foreign Migrant Domestic Workers was first launched in Sri Lanka following a successful Colombo Summit in 2002. Herein it was decided by CARAM Asia alongside nine regional and international organizations and 132 other participants that August 28th should be used to highlight the plight of foreign domestic workers and the need to recognise domestic work as valid mode of employment by the international community and other stakeholders.

Despite decades of mobility and employment, it is deeply disconcerting to note that foreign domestic workers still remain one of the most vulnerable demographics in the world’s employment market, who are continually subjected to abuse and exploitation. Without the recognition of employment, domestic workers are continually denied a weekly paid day off, forced to work up to sixteen hours a day due to a lack of a fixed number of working hours as well as being denied access to healthcare services.

Furthermore due to the nature of the work, domestic workers are confined to their employer’s sphere of influence, and as a result many are frequently abused but because of minimal redress mechanisms, employers and other perpetrators frequently escape criminal prosecution. Employers in host countries are also frequently known to ensure that domestic workers remain isolated and solely dependent on the family by cutting off communications with their own families. Since the personal documentation of the foreign domestic workers is often withheld, many of them are arrested, detained and then deported from their host countries if they attempt to flee abusive or exploitative treatment.

The extreme institutionalised exploitation of domestic workers has been ongoing for the past three decades, and as numbers of FDW continues to rise, so too does the risk of abuse. In fact, it is clear that the previously listed rights violations ferment an environment of bonded labour with intense servitude and debt bondage that constitutes trafficking in persons. Moreover, the cycle of abuses that are inflicted on migrant domestic worker will continue until the governments protect the rights of domestic workers by guaranteeing the rights through the legally enforceable mechanisms with due oversight and accountability.

In keeping with the recognition of domestic work as work, 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. CARAM Asia calls on all governments around the world to amend and make additions to domestic employment legislation to include domestic workers. Such a move will act as a progression in line with the forthcoming international standard setting process that recognises domestic work as work to be discussed at the next International Labour Conference in 2010.

CARAM Asia and its members representing non-governmental organisations, community based organisations and trade unions recommend the following;

· Governments must enact laws and adopt other measures to ensure that the rights of domestic workers are protected under legal framework

· All countries must immediately sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW, 1990)

· States must develop redress mechanisms for effective accountability of non-state actors such as labour recruitment agencies, employers and brokers for any violations against domestic workers

· Governments, trade unions and employer associations support and endorse the International Labour Organisations (ILO) new Convention for Domestic Workers and its supplementary recommendations

Malaysia Agrees on Wages, Passport Concession for Indonesian Workers

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Anita Rachman / August 25, 2009
http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/malaysia-agrees-on-wages-passport-concession-for-indonesian-workers/326099

Malaysia Agrees on Wages, Passport Concession for Indonesian Workers
Malaysia has agreed on a minimum monthly wage for Indonesian maids and other migrant workers in the informal sector, a key demand of Indonesia during ongoing negotiations on a new labor agreement.

“Six hundred ringgit is the minimum range. It’s about equal to our migrant workers’ standard salary in Yemen, which is about $180,” said Sumardoko, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, adding that the sides will wrap up negotiations on a new memorandum of understanding during a meeting on Sept. 5.

He said the Malaysian side also agreed during the latest round of talks in Kuala Lumpur last week to Indonesia’s request to let its migrant workers keep possession of their passports while working there. This change will enable Indonesians to leave an abusive employer more easily and return home if they run into problems.

In June, the Indonesian government suspended the sending of new domestic helpers, construction workers and plantation hands to Malaysia following public outrage over the case of an Indonesian maid who had been tortured for three years by her Malaysian employer. Indonesia also demanded revisions to a 2006 labor agreement.

Sumardoko said the passport rule will mean Indonesia’s migrants should no longer have problems with the Malaysian police or immigration authorities.

“Wherever they go, they will have their documents to prove they are legal,” he said. “If they face other problems, such as disagreements with their employers or if their contracts are terminated before completion, they still hold their own documents.”

There are currently about two million migrant workers in Malaysia, Indonesian’s top destination for migrant workers, but only 1.2 million of them hold legal documents.

Around 60 percent of Indonesian migrant workers who travel overseas face problems including physical abuse and not being paid. There are currently 4.3 million Indonesians working across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Sumardoko said the ministry had asked for a minimum wage equal to that of Malaysian workers, but he said the country did not have a minimum pay scale for informal workers.

Nonetheless, Wahyu Susilo, a public policy analyst at Migrant Care, an Indonesian nongovernmental organization, said 600 Malaysian ringgit ($170) is small compensation for the daily workload. He said the central government should have compared salaries of migrant workers from other countries with those working in Malaysia before agreeing on a figure.

Sumardoko responded by saying that many migrant workers in Malaysia currently earn less than the negotiated wage. “On average ¬they now earn around Rp 1.25 million [$125].”

Sumardoko said both countries would also establish a monitoring team of Indonesian and Malaysian representatives.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, the minimum wage was the last hurdle in the negotiations. The two sides had already agreed that workers would get one day off a week, annual leave, contract security and health and life insurance.

RI reaches deal on migrants with KL

Monday, August 24, 2009

Published on Mon 08/24/2009 and can be found at
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/08/24/ri-reaches-deal-migrants-with-kl.html

INDONESIA : Indonesia said it had yet to decide whether to lift the ban on sending migrant workers to Malaysia although Kuala Lumpur had agreed to Jakarta 's request of allowing migrants to hold their own passports.

Teguh Wardoyo, Foreign Ministry's director for migrant protection and legal aid, said on Sunday although both countries had reached a deal on the passport issue, one of the main reasons behind the ban, they would still have to coordinate with related institutions at home about other issues. The deal was reached last week in a joint working group in Kuala Lumpur .

"We are still waiting the government's *decision* about lifting the moratorium," said Teguh. "There has yet to be any decision about lifting the moratorium so far."

The ban was issued on June 26 after a series of migrant abuse cases in Malaysia . Indonesia had requested Malaysia to allow migrants to keep their own passports in a move aimed at enabling migrants to file complaints in cases of mistreatment. Migrants passports have been kept by their employers to allow better immigration control. – JP

CARAM Asia's Letter to The Jakarta Post

The following letter was published by The Jakarta Post on August 24th.

Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) Asia and its members Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) from Indonesia and Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE) from the Philippines would like to respond to the article dated August 13th entitled ‘Proposed mandatory testing HIV test for migrants hailed’ by Ridwan Max Sijabat. As a regional network of non-governmental organisations and civil society groups working on the field of HIV and AIDS and migration who formed the migrant representation at the recent International Conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), CARAM Asia and its members would like to express our deep concern for the content laid out in the aforementioned article and the manner in which it misrepresented migrant worker’s attitudes towards mandatory testing.

Mandatory testing remains a deeply discriminatory practise that continues to deny people the right to mobility and dignity due to their HIV status. Furthermore studies by the World Health Organisation (WHO) continue to demonstrate that such practises fail to contain the virus and merely identity HIV and AIDS as that of a foreign problem. As a leading regional organisation, CARAM Asia has campaigned against such stigmatizing practises and has launched a considerable number of research projects and publications documenting migrant’s experiences on this issue.

This was one of the key issues that CARAM Asia’s delegation raised at ICAAP in our Migrant Forum, other sessions, and in our subsequent recommendations to the congress. Yet despite this, without attending any of our sessions or asking our opinion on this matter, the author instead identified anonymous ‘ex-migrant workers from the Philippines’ as the premise for substantiating migrant attitudes towards the use of mandatory testing. Had he attended our sessions, he would have heard directly from migrant workers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines who related their degrading experiences with mandatory testing and deportation, and spoke in opposition to this stigmatizing and discriminatory policy and practice.

The article also contained a misconstrued reference on the views of the Chairperson of the National AIDS Commission (KPA) Nafsiah Mboi. Ridwan Max Sijabat then wrote a follow up article entitled KPA strongly rejects mandatory HIV test for migrant workers dated August 15th correcting the position of the KPA due to errors made in the initial article. However, the latter article still failed to identify the ex-migrant workers from the Philippines who allegedly gave their support for the use of mandatory testing.

CARAM Asia has written to Ridwan Max Sijabat in order to seek clarification on this issue but he has so far failed to respond to our email inquiry. As a result we would politely ask The Jakarta Post to include this statement within their next publication in order to correct the misrepresentation of migrant voices on the issue of mandatory testing. While we appreciate that mistakes are sometimes made in journalism this instance reflects very badly on the journalistic credibility of the author and serves as a great injustice to the migrant workers who attended and courageously gave their testimony at this year’s ICAAP.

Signed

CARAM Asia

Solidaritas Perempuan (SP)

Action for Health Initiatives (ACHIEVE)

Rohingya 'Won't Be Deported'

The following article is written by Achara Ashayagachat (21/08/2009) in the Bangkok Post and can be found here http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/22407/rohingya-won-t-be-deported

The Immigration Bureau has allowed visitors rare access to Rohingya immigrants transferred from Ranong.The department also assured the immigrants they would not be thrown out of Thailand.

Immigration Bureau commissioner Chatchawal Suksomjit yesterday said the Rohingya would not be deported from Thailand, although the solution to the problem of illegal immigration rested with the governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Pol Lt Gen Chatchawal said a committee had been set up to investigate the deaths of two Rohingya during their detention in Ranong.

Doctors previously said they had died of natural causes. More than 30 Rohingya people stood flabbergasted on the concrete grounds at the detention centre at Suan Phlu yesterday while photographers took their pictures and senior immigration police officers and media tried to talk to them.

Another group of Rohingya sat wearily in a nearby room waiting for a nurse to take care of them.

Chalida Thacharoensak, of the People's Empowerment group, and activists and Rohingya representatives from the Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand were also given a chance to meet them after they were moved from the southern province on Tuesday.

Vachareeya Thanya-ananphol, a Jesuit Refugee Service nurse who tended to all the immigrants at the centre, said about 10 Rohingya needed food and medicine.

"They feel very tired. Their legs are powerless and they feel itchy," Ms Vachareeya said.

Deputy Immigration Bureau chief Phitak Jarusombuti said the bureau would not reveal how long the Rohingya would be detained. He said they would get good care. "The NGOs and the Rohingya from outside will also provide some humanitarian support," Pol Maj Gen Phitak said.

Seventy-eight Rohingya landed off Thailand's shores in January. The centre now has 93 Rohingya, including nine who were arrested in February in Bangkok.