[asia-apec 894] Final Statement: 4th Intl Migrant Forum on APEC

[AMC]

17 November 1998

Dear Friends,

Following is the final statement of the APPA 1998 Migrant Forum which was
co-organised by Tenaganita, Asian Migrant Centre, and the Migrant Forum in
Asia. The report/summary proceedings of the Migrant Forum is still being
processed and will be sent later.

Thank you for everyone's support and participation.

Rex Varona
Asian Migrant Centre

***********
Final Statement of the 4th International Migrant Forum on APEC
1998 Asia Pacific People's Assembly on APEC
11-12 November 1998, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We are migrants' groups and advocates who have come together for the 4th
International Migrant Forum on APEC, focusing on the theme "Asserting
Migrant Workers' Rights in a Globalized Economy". We meet at a time when
the neoliberal global crisis continues to threaten basic survival, negate
human dignity and erode the quality of life. We've come together to draw
strength and inspiration  from each other in our common struggle for social
and economic justice. 

In 1995 we declared that: "Genuine development must be centered on the
needs of people and nature, and deliver real social and economic justice.
The form of indiscriminate, unregulated economic growth  and trade which
APEC advocates delivers the opposite: ecologically unsustainable growth."

In 1996 we declared that "globalization in the forms advocated by APEC must
be rejected." We committed ourselves to "imagine and construct an
alternative world based on fundamental principles respecting human rights
and  human  dignity."

In 1997, we recognized the  havoc wrought by the Asian economic crisis. And
that "..in all parts of the world , human rights are under attack,
irreversible damage done to the environment; social programs dismantled or
privatized..."
 
Neoliberal globalization has led to the unprecedented  collapse of the
economies in Asia.  It continues to  manifest itself in various parts of
the world.  Today in Asia, we face:

1. Historic levels of joblessness.  In 7 Asian countries (excluding China
and South Asia), 26 million workers are already without jobs; four million
more face unemployment by the end of 1998; one million migrant workers face
deportation within this year.

2. Massive impoverishment. The magnitude and intensity of poverty resulting
from the crisis has increased food insecurity, including famines in certain
parts of Asia. Some Asian governments claim that the crisis has reduced the
standard of living by 20 years. Social inequities have also deepened. One
direct effect is the intensification of rural-urban and international labor
migration. 

The crisis, however, has differential impacts on social classes. Worst hit
by the crisis are the peasants, workers, migrants, women, indigenous
peoples and the marginalized.

3. Deepened economic distortions and structural defects. Amidst the
poverty, there is a crisis of overproduction especially of goods for
export. Global corporate capital has made use of the crisis by gaining
greater control of strategic industries through "vulture funds"
(telecommunications, power, transportation, banking). 

4. Heightened social tensions. Conflicts between ethnic groups have erupted
in racial violence. Tensions have grown between women and men, migrants and
local workers, between religious groups, etc.

5. Intensified discrimination against migrants. This is exemplified in
more restrictive and discriminatory laws and policies against migrants,
reduction or non-payment of wages/benefits specifically targeting migrant
workers, confinement of migrant workers to low-paying and 3D jobs (dirty,
dangerous, demeaning). Migrants have been used as scapegoats for the
economic difficulties, stealing local jobs, spreading diseases, and rising
criminality.

6. Significant rise in violations of  migrants' human rights. Now more than
ever, migrant workers have become a disposable factor in production.  The
violations and abuses against  migrants are exacerbated  by the almost
absolute deregulation of the labour industry.

We  find recent mass arrests, raids and detention  as well as forcible mass
deportation of migrant workers  reprehensible and condemnable.

7. Institutionalized commodification of human labor on a global scale.
Trade in human labor in various forms (e.g. trafficking in women and
children) is now one of the most profitable, albeit exploitative,
industries in the world. Intense competition among monopoly capitalists
feeds on the use and exploitation of cheap, controllable labor, specially
migrants.

People's resistance is critical in stopping this destruction. The
widespread suffering resulting from neoliberal globalization and the crises
impel people to continue the struggle against globalization.

Our challenges

As migrant groups, advocates and non-government organizations, we commit
ourselves to:

1. Continue to make governments, labor traders, international financial and
corporate bodies accountable for violations of human rights and the impacts
of globalization;
2. Develop forms of resistance that complement and reinforce our strength
at the international, regional and national levels;
3. Continue to fight and address violations of migrant workers' human rights; 
4. Intensify education and organizing work among migrant workers to
challenge globalization; help develop initiatives by migrant workers;
5. Create alternative sustainable economic models, processes and practices
that will challenge/replace globalization;
6. Broaden and strengthen our alliances and solidarity across classes,
sectors, nationalities;
7. Launch coordinated initiatives to build/strengthen popular movements and
political momentum against globalization.
8. Develop lifestyles and relationships that promote, and are consistent
with, these alternative, sustainable models/systems.

More concretely, the 1998 migrant forum has resolved to jointly do the
following:

1. Campaign for the ratification and the enforcement of the UN Conventions;
lobby embassies and governments.
2. Monitor the violations of migrants' rights, especially with respect to
deportation of migrant workers.
3. Due to the large number of migrant workers in Malaysia, establish crisis
centre(s) which are capable of dealing with crucial problems of migrant
workers and can provide round-the-clock services; 
4. Facilitate a regional consultation on the increasing human rights
violations against women migrant workers especially in the informal sector
(sex workers, entertainers, domestic workers).
5. Take the pro-active measure of organizing a regional consultation of
stakeholders from South Asian Association Regional Cooperation - the next
region to be hit by the economic crisis.
6. Support campaigns against wage cuts for migrant workers, e.g. in Hong Kong.
7. Organize coordinated activities, publicize actions and mark December 18
of each year as the International Solidarity Day with Migrant Workers and
their Families.
8. Evaluate and monitor pre-departure and post-arrival orientation programs
so that these emphasize migrants' human rights, gender and reproductive
rights, health issues and the social costs/dimensions of migration.
9. Develop reintegration programs that promote sustainable economic/social
alternatives, improve the quality of life of migrant workers and their
families; link up with initiatives/networks working for such alternatives
e.g. farmers and women's movements, and community livelihood/savings projects.

Approved by the participants of the 4th International Migrant Forum on
APEC, 12 November 1998, Stanford Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Overseas participants:

1. Kanlungan  Centre Foundation (Philippines) -- Mary Lou Alcid
2. Unlad-Kabayan Migrant Services Foundation (Philippines) -- Mayan Villalba
3. Mehlika Hoodboy (U.S.A.)
4. Padmini Wirasurya (Sri Lanka)
5. Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea (South Korea) - Rev. Park
Chung-Ung, Yi Yoon-joo, Jeong Yunshik
6. Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (Asia) -- Ramon Mari Bultron,
Joy de Guzman
7. Asian Migrant Centre (Asia) -- Rex Varona, Bien Molina Jr.
8. Migrant Forum in Asia Secretariat (Asia) -- Henry Jun Wah Lee
9. CARE (Cambodia) -- Sian Soth, Tep Money
10. Asia Pacific Meeting of the Religious (Taiwan) -- Sr. Digma Luz Trocio
11. Vancouver Status of Women (Canada) -- Sunera Thobani
12. Terminal 29 (Indonesia) -- Suprihatin
13. WARBE (Bangladesh) -- Syed Saiful Haque
14. Solidaritas Perempuan (Indonesia) -- Tati Krisnawati, Ida Cahyani,
Wahyu Susilo, Veronica Indriani
15. HK Christian Industrial Committee (Hong Kong)  / Taiwan -- Yi-Chi Chen
16. Migrante International (Philippines) -- Maria Fe, Imelda Laguindam
17. Graduate School for Social Transformation Studies (Taiwan) --
Hsias-Chuan  Hsia
18. Center for Indonesian Migrant Workers (Indonesia) -- Nurul  Qoiriah,
Carla June Natan
19. Alternative Law research and Development Center (Philippines) -- Alvin
C. Batalla
20. National Forum for Migrant Workers' Right (India) -- Bharati Paula Pflug
21. ALAC (Philippines) -- Carla Rita Padilla
22. Solidarity Centre for Migrants (Japan) -- Emmanuel Rosales, Keiko Tanahara
23. Asian-Pacific Forum for Law and Development (Bangladesh) -- Hameeda
Hossain
24. Human Rights Watch (U.S.A.) -- Jeannine Guthri
25. Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (Bangladesh) --
Joachim Victor Gomez
26. Domestic Workers Movement (India) -- Jeanne Devos
27. Philippine Women's Forum on APEC (Philippines) -- Gina Alunan Melgar
28. Kantor Advokat/Pengacara Dan Konsultan Hukum -- Maria Titiek P.
Angesti, SH. MBA,  Saharuddin Satar, SH. MBA

Local Participants

1. Tenaganita -- Irene Fernandez, Aegile Fernandez, Sharuna Verghis, Minder
Kaur, Nirmala Saras, Pavani, Shobha, Harris Odilliya, Anja Rudnick, Astrid
Rosenboom, Madelijn de Klyne Gitanjali 
2. UNDP 2000 -- Anwar Fazal
3. Indonesian Sociology Research -- Bambang Soeroso R. Moek
4. St. Anne's Chruch -- Madeline Cross
5. Asian Partnership on International Migration -- Shaira Shameem
6. St. Francis Xavier Church -- Rosemary Chong, Paul Dass
7. Legal Aid Center -- Leena Ghosh

[end]
Asian Migrant Centre
4 Jordan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2312-0031   Fax: (852) 2992-0111
E-mail: amc at hk.super.net   Web: www.hk.super.net/~amc