[Narrative Report] First Virtual Migrants' Echo on the GCM Regional Review
A Report on the Virtual Migrants’ Echo Conference on the Asia Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration
Organised by Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and Boniĝi Monitoring
21 May 2021, 4:00-6:30PM HK time (virtual)
The Virtual Migrants’ Echo Conference on the Asia Pacific Regional Review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration held on May 21, 2021 gathered various migrants organizations, advocates and civil society across the region.
In this Virtual Echo Conference, the outcomes of the GCM Regional Review in Asia-Pacific were presented and discussed. Migrant organizations and advocates had the opportunity to bring to the table their insights regarding the GCM Regional Review and explore ways forward that ensure migrants are front and centre in the GCM review process as they continue to work together and strengthen their capacity for advocacy and engagement. This Echo Conference further strengthened the link and relevance of advocacy to migrants rights campaigns on the ground.
Organised by the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and Boniĝi Monitoring, the Virtual Echo Conference was attended by a total of 95 participants from more than 70 migrant organizations, trade unions, women and feminist organizations and alliances, faith-based and civil society organizations (CSOs) from 15 countries and regions.[1]
OPENING THE ECHO CONFERENCE
The conference was facilitated by Jane Brock of Immigrant Women’s Speakout Association, based in Australia, who welcomed participants and introduced the organizers of the Echo Conference. Interpreters were provided in Bahasa Indonesia and Filipino.
Aaron Ceradoy, general manager of the APMM, also provided welcome remarks. He thanked participants for their attendance. He also recognized the speakers and Boniĝi Monitoring for its partnership with APMM in sponsoring the conference.
In his speech, Ceradoy recognized the role of the grassroots migrants’ organizations and advocates in joining the conversation and contributing to the building of the grassroots movement as the key to advancing the interests of migrants at any level. He said that the need for changes in framework, attitude, and policy is imperative more than ever. For the struggle for change, he said that the “GCM is an arena that migrants’ organizations and advocates should not be remiss, ensuring that in all venues possible migrants’ issues will not be side-lined.”
He called on the participants to not only understand the GCM and its process but to claim it to ensure that it will be implemented for the benefit of migrants.
REFLECTIONS ON THE GCM REGIONAL REVIEW
On the overview and analysis of the GCM Asia-Pacific Regional Review, Rey Perez Asis, programme coordinator for advocacy and campaigns of APMM, started off with a discussion on the background of the GCM and the recently concluded regional review. He highlighted the multi-stakeholder participation initiated by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), the UN Regional Network on Migration for Asia and the Pacific and the UN Migration Network which aligned with the civil society’s call for an inclusive, transparent GCM process.
Asis pointed out that the consultations were voluntary and that the organisers offered an open invitation to any participating organisation to co-host and facilitate the five (5) consultations on the GCM in the lead up to the Regional Review. A total of five (5) statements (4 joint statements aligning with the clustering of the GCM objectives in the Regional Review plus an introductory statement) came out of the consultations. For APMM, these statements were important as “they reflected the unity of those who attended the consultations, and contributed to the discussions to ensure that no migrant issue is “swept under the rug””.
In terms of content, Asis stated the gap between governments’ pronouncements and migrants’ collective realities. He hoped that, in the pursuit of the GCM objectives, actions plans of governments would be more relevant and responsive to the hard-hitting issues confronted by migrants. In terms of participation, he noted that the GCM regional review was not without challenges: the significant absence of migrant organisations participating; time constraints; and limitations of the virtual platform. Lastly, he stressed that migrants’ engagement in the GCM process should be based on the empowerment of migrants and serve their continuing empowerment.
Eve Lester, founding director of Boniĝi Monitoring and an active participant in the multi-stakeholder consultations of the GCM Regional Review, gave her reflections on the GCM Asia-Pacific Regional Review.
Regarding the stakeholder consultation process in the GCM, she, as many stakeholders have, acknowledged its openness, and inclusive and consultative nature. Acknowledging the genuine effort on the part of the UN ESCAP and members of the UN Network on Migration to be open and inclusive and to listen, learn and do better in the lead up to the IMRF, Lester said that many CSOs demonstrated openness to work collaboratively, to create space for — and to diversify — meaningful participation and engagement.
She posed the important question “What difference does it make?”. Here, she said: “Change needs to take place at the level of hearts and minds, behaviour, and structures. Making the wheels of change turn together is critical and the key, by taking a step back, is to see that these wheels are interdependent. If engagement is not done on all three, then change won’t happen.” She reminded participants that no organization, individual, or even network can do everything. It is only in standing back to see how the system works that stakeholders can better understand how they fit into it, what is needed and why it is absolutely vital to work together.
Lastly, she reminded stakeholders not to give up. She said, “Whether or not our countries are GCM champion countries, we must hold them to account and continue to patiently engage as we need to recognise that we are part of a movement and take a long view.”
CEO of the Institute for Informatics and Development, Syeed Ahamed, told the conference that there is still much room for improvement in the current level of stakeholder engagement in the GCM review process. He emphasized that, “As we work towards the IMRF, grassroots consultations and national consultations must be started ahead of the regional, intra-regional and global consultations.”
He described the prevailing dynamic as a form of pyramidical engagement that encourages gatekeeping, where decisions are made by a few. In the GCM Regional Review, this pyramidical stakeholder engagement was addressed interestingly as there was an open call for stakeholders and more stakeholders were also able to join thanks to the consultations being virtual. He mentioned that this is actually a good lesson from the regional review.
He said that though it is a very frustrating process when things are not moving and can really be painful if there is no actual progress in implementation of the GCM objectives, it is important to actually hold duty-bearers accountable for the commitment they made on the GCM. So, there is a need to take part in the processes, share among ourselves about the process, and for a lot of lesson learning and capacity building to bring migrants into the process and ensure their voices are heard.
Lastly, he discussed the ways forward by addressing the participation of stakeholders, having more learning sharing and intra-regional stakeholder partnerships. He said that “if we can talk to each other then we can help and strengthen each other”.
Although the next speaker, Sringatin, who is chairperson of the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union in Hong Kong, was unable to join the GCM Regional Review, she offered some extremely important reflections on the GCM process and its implications for migrants. She told the conference that while they in IMWU acknowledge the efforts in the Regional Review to bring in and highlight the positions of grassroots migrants, she asked a key structural question, “How does the review from the national to the regional be able to facilitate the concerns of the grassroots and make the governments accountable?”
She lamented that the ongoing crisis aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the ugly truth that migrant workers are just slaves for globalization. When the COVID-19 pandemic was looming, grassroots migrants did not know where to grieve, complain and seek help for difficulties and violations that migrants were experiencing on the ground and that “national governments cover their eyes and close their ears and pretend not to hear anything from the migrants.”
Sringatin also pointed out the challenges grassroot migrants face in participating in the Regional Review: (a) the lack of consultations conducted with migrant groups on the GCM at the national level prior to the Regional Review; (b) that the Regional Review was held on weekdays and during the time when most migrants were at work; (c) the challenges posed by the virtual platform; and (d) language gaps. All these, she said, automatically discourage migrant workers from participating in the process.
Lastly, she said that NGOs must pave the way for grassroots participation by supporting migrants in the GCM through educating and empowering migrants organizations and working together in making the GCM process more inclusive, transparent and effective for migrants.
An open forum was conducted thereafter to entertain questions and comments from the Echo participants.
REFLECTIONS FROM THE PARTICIPANTS
During the second part of the conference, 10 breakout groups were formed between all the participating organizations, each holding their own discussion aided by a rapporteur and documenter. The issues and recommendations raised can be grouped into four categories: (1) migrants’ awareness of the GCM, (2) the format of stakeholder consultations, (3) the consultation process, and (4) outstanding issues that need to be put forward.
In terms of migrants’ awareness of the GCM:
There is a need to increase mgrants’ awareness on the GCM and its process. The majority of the migrant participants in the Echo Conference indicated they only knew about the GCM right before the Echo Conference was held. However, many indicated that now that they know about the GCM, they are interested and willing to participate.
Some participants regretted that governments would only consult selected NGOs, leaving out many grassroots migrants. They noted that migrant-origin governments through their embassies or consulates have not done enough to facilitate discussion on the GCM with their nationals overseas. As a result, many migrant workers are not even aware of the GCM, and it is crucial that governments help get them onboard the process.
With respect to the consultation process:
Consultations on the GCM at the national, regional, and international level should ensure migrants’ participation, especially grassroots migrants whose voices need to be heard. Virtual discussions would also aid in strengthening their presence, participation, and efficacy.
Migrant participants also felt strongly about language justice, and recommended that information on the GCM and its process be translated into the native language of the country as well as relevant mother languages of the migrants.
The timing of consultations should also be friendly to migrants. Participants pointed out that the Regional Review, for example, was held during the work time of migrants.
To enhance participation, it would be helpful to create space for migrants to talk about the GCM. Regular consultations should be held, and the GCM document itself should be included in these discussions to familiarize migrants with it and the terms used. It may also help to have visuals and not text alone to make presentations more lively and accessible.
In order to strengthen engagement with the GCM and its regional reviews, participants also recommended developing cooperation among various organizations. By doing so, grassroots migrants can initiate and organize activities outside the UN process, establish control over the dialogue, and give direction to the UN Regional Migration Network and even sending and receiving governments. There is also a suggestion to invite the UN Migration Network and even governments in migrants-led initiatives to listen to migrants.
Capacity development forms an integral part of the GCM and should be cultivated among migrants. This can be accomplished through:
The release of timely information and creation of activities on the GCM by governments with migrants as main participants.
The hosting of seminars and workshops by GCM-aware migrant organisations, migrants’ rights advocates and service providers, and CSOs to build and deepen migrants’ understanding of the GCM, and emphasize the relevance of their participation in it to their campaigns.
Finally, concerning the outstanding problems put forth by migrant participants:
There is an absence of recommendations that would guide labor-sending and labor-receiving countries in addressing the issues of migrants, especially those exacerbated by the pandemic. The GCM should make clear recommendations on how to assist the migrant workers, and create programs that can help weather the economic impact and protect the health of migrants.
Both sending and receiving governments should ensure the protection of migrant workers by, for example, including them in financial assistance packages, protecting their wages, and providing suitable accommodation. This is especially important since many migrants have lost their jobs and have nowhere to go due to the pandemic. Other issues such as placement fees, the withholding of documents by employers, exclusion from labor laws, and the protection of maternity rights, should be addressed as well.
The formulation of work contracts between migrants and employers should be made more transparent. Some migrants reported being unaware of the content of employment contracts that they are required to sign. Participants asked that governments provide lawyers, interpreters and other guidance for migrants who face such problems.
CONCLUDING THE ECHO
In her closing remarks, Lester said that the conversation was very important and testament to this fact was that a huge number of participants held on and stayed until the end of the conference despite the time extension. She said ways have to be found to ensure that the ideas, creativity and commitment of the conference participants can be harnessed and taken forward to the succeeding processes.
She said that the challenges include not only what we are calling for from the UN and governments, but also in finding good ways to do the work with and for migrants. She also gave importance to engagement at the national level. She said there cannot be strong engagement in the regional and international level unless there is also effective engagement at the national level.
An online evaluation was created and shared to participants after the Echo Conference was concluded. Results of the evaluation response are an appendix to this report.
=======
ABOUT APMM
The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants is a regional non-governmental, not-for-profit organization supporting the empowerment of migrants and their movement-building through advocacy and campaigns, education and research, network-organising and cooperation. It 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. The APMM assisted in the formation of the International Migrants Alliance (IMA, the first ever global alliance of grassroots migrants and refugees), the Interfaith Network for the Rights of Migrants (INFORM, a network of faith communities and organizations working for migrants’ rights advancement) and Alliance of Marriage Migrants Organizations for Rights and Empowerment (AMMORE, a global platform for marriage migrants and advocates). Visit them at http://www.apmigrants.org
ABOUT BONIĜI MONITORING
Boniĝi’s vision is of a world in which immigration detention is not a default migration management response. Its goal is to capture, triangulate and show independent, clear, credible, comparable datasets that make more visible the impact of immigration detention. To open up the otherwise closed and often dangerously secretive world of immigration detention, Boniĝi uses a data collection model designed to enable conditions of immigration detention to be monitored more frequently, more systematically, and more efficiently. Increased transparency and accountability about detention policies, practices, patterns and trends helps to make detainees safer and increases pressure on states to use non-custodial alternatives to detention. The term boniĝi is an Esperanto word meaning to improve, make good, or mend. Established in 2017, we are a for-purpose-not-profit social enterprise making this vision a reality not only in places of immigration detention but also in other closed environments. Learn more at www.bonigi-monitoring.com
[1] Countries and regions present in the Echo Conference were Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Germany, US, and Ecuador.