PHL takes leadership role in labor-mobility advocacy
THE Philippines successfully steered discussions on the regional review of the implementation of the migrant-labor governance in the Middle East.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) conducted the said review on “Labor Mobility and Human Rights: Examining Migrant Labor Governance in the Middle East in the Context of Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration” on March 11.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola—elected as chairman of Unescap’s Asia-pacific Regional Review of the Implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) from March 10 to 12 in Bangkok—delivered the Philippines’s statement.
Arriola articulated the problems of overseas Filipino workers (OFWS), such as the confiscation of their passports by their employers and the lack of labor mobility mainly for those in doing domestic work, that had to be addressed in the negotiations leading to the international adoption of the GCM in December 2018.
“Throughout the negotiations, the Philippines lobbied for the inclusion of the following provisions: first, [the] fair and ethical recruitment that allow migrants to change employers and modify the conditions or length of their stay with their employers; second,
decent work and respect for international human rights; and third, measures prohibiting the confiscation of travel documents of migrants. Today, we have these three principles codified under Objective 6, Section 22, paragraphs (g) and (h) of the Gcm—thanks to our traditional and nontraditional partnerships we created during the negotiations,” Arriola outlined.
Former CEO of the Labor Market Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain Ausamah Alabsi recounted the Philippines’s partnership with his country to institute reforms toward better labor mobility for Filipino migrant workers, exemplified by the flexi-visa system made available to irregular OFWS. The system allows laborers to be documented independent workers without their visas being tied to a specific Bahraini employer.
Since the adoption of the GCM in 2018, the Philippines— through the Department of Foreign Affairs (Dfa)—continued its advocacy for better migration governance policies especially leading to positive developments on labor mobility not only in Bahrain, but also in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
“Another welcome development is the rollout of labor-reform
initiatives by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 14. These reforms will finally ease restrictions on labor mobility of migrant workers and will allow [them] to change sponsors after finishing their contract…” continued the DFA official. “We thank the KSA for taking these steps forward in their migration governance. This will definitely benefit our more than 800,000 Filipino migrants [there].”
International Organization for Migration (Iom)-philippines Chief of Mission Kristin Dadey commended the transformative leadership of the Philippines in migration and development, which has provided greater labor mobility for Filipino migrant workers, especially in the Middle East. The organization likewise commended Bahrain for its openness to reforms that will benefit not only the foreign workers in the said kingdom, but also its business sector.
To further highlight its leadership in international migration and development, the Philippine government recently announced its nomination of Arriola for the position of deputy director general for Management and Reform of the IOM headquarters in Geneva.
President Duterte previously conferred the Grand Cross (Gawad Mabini, Dakilang Kamanong) on Arriola in June 2019 for her invaluable contribution to the country during the GCM negotiations in Marrakesh, Morocco and its eventual overwhelming adoption by 164 countries in December 2018.
The DFA, Unescap and the IOM Regional Offices Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa organized the side event on “Labor Mobility and Human Rights…” moderated by Assistant Secretary Enrico Fos of DFA’S Office of Migrant Workers’ Affairs, together with Regional Director Maria Nenette Motus of IOM-ASIA Pacific. Other panelists included Iom-bahrain Chief of Mission Mohamed El Zarkani and Migrant Forum in Asia Regional Coordinator William Gois.