About us
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) is a regional network supporting empowerment of migrants and their movement-building through its programs of advocacy and campaigns, education and research, and network organising and cooperation. The major themes we work on are development and forced migration, domestic work as work, marriage migration, migrants trade unionism, faith partnership and solidarity, and women migration.
A pioneer in grassroots migrant movement building in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, the APMM believes that empowered migrants are central in upholding migrants’ rights, instituting policies favorable to them and their families, and contributing to development that serves the people’s interests.
Since its establishment in 1984, APMM’s work has majorly contributed to the establishment of grassroots migrant organisations in countries and country-areas like South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
It has also assisted in the formation of international alliances of migrants and their advocates, namely:
Migrante International, the first ever global alliance of Filipino migrant organisations, formed in 1997 after several years of consultations with migrant groups from Asia Pacific and other global regions;
International Migrants Alliance (IMA), the first ever global alliance of migrants, refugees and displaced peoples of various nationalities, formed in 2008, whose leaders are composed mainly of grassroots migrants. Its current chairperson is Eni Lestari, an Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong;
Interfaith Network for the Rights of Migrants (INFORM), formed in 2010, an interfaith cooperation of faith based organisations, migrants’ rights advocates and migrant-serving institutions in Asia Pacific coordinating efforts to support migrants; and
Alliance of Marriage Migrants Organisations for Rights and Empowerment, which started in 2008 as a loose network of marriage migrant groups and advocates and was eventually formalised as an alliance in 2017.
The APMM has maintained and strengthened relations with these organisations and alliances to ensure that the work of APMM continues to be informed by the needs of the migrant community serving the migrants’ movement building. The APMM likewise continues to work with trade unions, faith based institutions and women's organisations.
APMM is led by a Board of Directors composed of migrant leaders and other supporters with direct migration experience. A collegial body of experts on various themes – migration, movement building, gender, labor, environment, development, etc. – is annually convened, known as the Regional Advisory Committee, to inform APMM’s programs and activities. In Hong Kong, the APMM is a registered non-profit limited company with charitable status.
Our mission
The APMM envisions a strong movement of migrants of different nationalities in Asia Pacific and the Middle East (APME), actively defending their rights, including the basic right to migrate; advancing solidarity with people’s movements in the countries where they are working; and linking up with their people’s movements in their home countries.
We seek to enhance the organisational capability of the national migrant organisations and networks in the Asia Pacific Region to ensure that these organisations are efficiently and effectively implementing migrant-oriented programmes, activities and initiatives.
