Asian Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Labour Migration

The Asian Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Labour Migration was formally established by a resolution dated 17 September 2011 by a gathering of 26 parliamentarians, as well as legislative staff, and select civil society and trade union representatives gathered in Phnom Penh Cambodia for a parallel conference to the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

This gathering in Phnom Penh, organized by Migrant Forum in Asia in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, was the 5th in a series of AIPA parallel events aimed at engaging parliamentarians in the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of migrant workers and members of their families, specifically pertaining to the activities of the AIPA.

In Phnom Penh, the assembled parliamentarians decided to expand the scope of the engagement beyond ASEAN/AIPA to include parliamentarians from South Asia, and to formally establish themselves as a caucus with the following core objectives:

• to promote the cause of migrant workers in our respective national parliaments
• to collectively engage at the regional and international levels in the development of agreements and legislation
• to acknowledge the need to consider national, economic, and human security in the management of migration issues

The activities of the newly formed caucus are to include:

• field visits to migrant worker communities in order to gain a more robust understanding of the lived realities of migrant workers and in order to bring attention to migrant worker issues in the country and region
• the organization of seminars on key issue areas in collaboration with CSOs, trade unions, and migrants’ rights advocates to share information
• inter-parliamentary exchange visits to raise the profile of the issues of migrant workers in Asia
• the exercise of parliamentary oversight functions to monitor the programs of national governments in line with local and national legislation relating to migrant workers
• the exploration of the possibility of the establishment of a common fund by sending and receiving countries to set up social safety mechanisms skills development programs;
• urging national governments to ratify ILO Convention 189: Decent Work for Domestic Workers, and to engage in parliamentary debate on the UN Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, as well as core conventions of the ILO, in particular Conventions 87 and 98, and migrant worker conventions, 97 and 143;
• energetic consideration of other proposals/actions that would enhance the rights and welfare of migrant workers within the region