Defending the Rights of Women Migrant Workers
Bangkok, 22 September 2022
A roundtable discussion was held last September 22, 2022, in Bangkok to exchange views on issues, priorities, and strategies for defending the rights of migrant women workers.
This was attended by ten empowered migrant women advocates, namely: Srishty Anand from Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), Donna Denina from International Women's Alliance (IWA), Joanna Concepcion from Migrante International, Obeth Montes from GABRIELA Philippines, Risca Dwi Ambarsari from Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), Musarrat Perveen from CARAM Asia, and Jane Brock, Dewi Amelia, and Trina Jarilla from the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM).
Jane Brock and Lorelei Covero, the facilitators of the discussion, started with the warm greeting of fellow migrant advocates and then proceeded to share the objectives of the roundtable discussion. Then, participants were encouraged to introduce themselves to one another.
The RDT mainly tackled the possible collaborations of the different organizations present in the discussion. The first suggestion was to bring the Regional Women Migrants Agenda (RWMA) to every possible engagement available such as the Universal Periodic Review and the State Report Convention on the protection of migrant workers and their families in October.
At the national level, delegates agreed to assist each other and different women migrant organizations to engage with advocacy. At the regional level, participants affirmed the suggestion to review the Global Compact for Migration, to research migrant participation, and to hold more education/capacity development programs such as those of advocacy strategy.
Delegates also talked about fundraising matters for research, capacity development, publication, and distribution; and the creation of the main communication mechanism with everyone.
The most exciting segment is the proposal to create a new network, the Network for the Protection of Women Migrants' Rights. Every delegate was encouraged to go back to their respective governing bodies and discuss the formation of the network.
Furthermore, the participants discussed the tactical campaigns to engage in. First is the current status of Mary Jane Veloso and the clemency advocacy of “Bring Mary Jane Home”. Second, is the research on the situation of women migrants before and after COVID-19, and the Recovery Program. Women advocates also planned to conduct focus group discussions (FGD) or Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to widen the scope and to update the existing studies on COVID-19 and migrants.
Additionally, delegates also planned to do research on migrant health workers and sea-based women migrants and put it in publication. Podcasts were also discussed as a rising platform for knowledge-sharing, and many agreed on the plans of using it to amplify the campaign of migrant women.
Creation of a hub for service or referral systems was also brought up. This will involve services that are not yet covered by the usual referral mechanisms that exist.
A follow-up meeting on the Roundtable Discussion on Defending the Rights of Women Migrant Workers will be held on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022.
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