ASEAN looks to promoting safety, fairness for migrant workers
The 17th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) has been held in Luang Prabang, Laos, under the chair of Vilayphong Sisomvang, Director General of Planning and International Cooperation under the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Laos.
The September 24-25 event draws the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN member countries as the ACMW coordinator, representatives of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and funding partners, including Australia, Canada and the European Union (EU). Timor Leste attends the meeting as an observer.
Participants reviewed the results of the assessment of the implementation of the ASEAN Consensus, which has shown steady progress and increasing implementation efforts. They discussed the recent ASEAN declarations on the protection of migrant workers as well as orientations to turn commitments into practical actions.
Besides, participants also reviewed the implementation of projects in the ASEAN Plan 2018-2025, as well as the publication of the recent Audio Visual Presentations (AVP) of the Public Campaign for Safe and Fair Migration in ASEAN hosted by the Philippines in July 2024.
This activity, supported by the EU through the EU-ASEAN regional dialogue and the ILO, provides awareness-raising education tools to current and future migrant workers to have adequate and reliable information on migration before and after their arrival, thus enabling them to better prepare themselves for migration, and protecting and managing them against all forms of abuse.
At the meeting, representatives from the IPO and IOM agreed to adjust the partnership, and explore priority areas for future cooperation, including strengthening efforts to prevent human trafficking and labour abuse of international workers, and promoting safe and fair migration in the region.
