ANNUAL REPORT 2021
The challenges posed by the second year of COVID19 pandemic were telling to the lives of the migrant
workers and their families. The issues and concerns faced by migrant workers in 2020 persisted throughout 2021. Job and income loss, exclusion from social protection, longer working hours and discrimination, among others, took a big toll on the lives of the migrant workers, including their families back home. Women migrant workers were disproportionately impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. Cases of gender-based violence were up, together with extra burden of care work for the sick and elderly.
Learning from their experience in 2020, the migrant workers movement in Asia- Pacific displayed resilience and innovations amidst the challenges. The movement faced head-on the issues posed by the COVID19 pandemic, from fighting and winning cases of unfair and illegal dismissals of migrant workers, providing aid for migrants in need, to utilizing online platforms to work around the rules preventing face-to-face gatherings, these were all employed creatively by the vibrant and dynamic migrant workers movement.
The APMM looked for inspiration from the resilience and innovations demonstrated by the migrant workers movement and conflating them into new initiatives, including the Regional Review on the Global Compact on Migration (GCM) Process, Regional Echo Conferences on the GCM Process, the Regional and National Women’s Encounters, the Talitha Cumi1, and the Migrants Online Sharing for Visibility, Empowerment and Solidarity or MOVES.
Various research papers aimed at better understanding the situation of migrant workers were released, including on Trafficking and Undocumented Workers in Malaysia and a policy paper on Private Sector and Migration. Strengthening and development of the Alliance of Marriage Migrants Organizations for Rights and Empowerment (AMMORE), International Migrants Alliance – Asia Pacific (IMA-AP) and Asia Pacific Interfaith Network for the Rights of Migrants (AP-INFORM) continued, with additional activities supporting the organizing of migrant workers from South Asia.
Capacity-building efforts went underway, with online trainings for grassroot evaluation of Development Effectiveness in East Asia and the Pacific. Service support in the form of Mobile Legal Advice Clinics (MLAC) were launched in countries of attention. In the APMM headquarters, a new meeting facility, the Training for Empowerment and Advocacy of Migrants (TEAM) Center was established for use of migrant workers in Hong Kong.
The APMM has also concluded it scheduled Organizational Capacity Development, added new staff, as well as expanding to new development partners.
With the COVID19 pandemic still raging, with no abating in sight, APMM looks toward the grassroots movement of the migrant workers in Asia and the Pacific to seek guidance and inspiration to help the organization traverse the complicated path laid in front of us. Together with the migrant workers, we continue to push forward.
Read the full report.