Developmental State, Human Rights and Migrant Workers

Abstract

Under the wave of globalization, the developmental state of Taiwan has been importing migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries for decades. This paper tries to examine the human rights issue of migrant workers under the developmental state. It argues that importing migrant workers is one important strategy of the state in response to the rapidly changing global economy in which migrant labor is perceived to be a temporary labor supplement for meeting the requirements of production. The nature of the developmental state is clearly revealed in its role in reducing the costs of production. The paper then discusses the issue of the labor rights of migrant workers. Differing quite significantly from those of local workers, the economic rights of migrant workers are the least protected from the point of view of the state labor law. Migrant workers are considered to be a different type of labor from the domestic workers for whom the government labor law has been less strictly enforced. The state’s intended ignorance of migrant labor’s employment conditions has resulted in the migrant labor having the least support in the work place.