The Multilevel Approach to Promoting Asian Migrant Workers' Rights: The MFA Experience

Abstract

The non-recognition of the rights of Asian migrant workers by labour-sending and labour-receiving countries translates into their exclusion from coverage of labour and social legislation the absence of grievance mechanisms and/or coverage under restrictive and discriminatory policies and laws. It is also reflected in the rate of abuse violence and exploitation committed against them by state actors (both sending and receiving countries) recruiters and employers. Governments of labour-receiving countries view migrant workers as economically necessary but prefer to keep them unregulated and informal in order to keep wages low (therefore competitive) and to justify denial of labour rights. Some countries have creatively devised a trainee to accept foreigners under a transfer of technology programme. In fact this system is only a ruse for local and national companies to get cheap foreign labour without the obligation of providing them with the economic and social entitlements befitting a regular worker. (excerpt)