Program Brief - Migrants' Rights , DCA South Asia

Migrants’ Rights Programme

Programme Brief

Background According to official figures, of the 215 million migrants in the world 53 million are Asians. This makes the Asian continent the most significant source region for migrant labor worldwide. Most South and Southeast Asian migrants come predominantly from poor, rural areas, have little or no formal education, and are either semi- or low-skilled labourers. They are also increasingly female.1 Many of them (according to ILO estimates, up to 25% in Asia) are in undocumented situations, either as a result of having been lured into illegal contract agreements through agents, or of having become undocumented after overstaying their visa and/or escaping an abusive employment situation.

Often driven by desperate circumstances in their region of origin in general, or in their village and/or their immediate family in particular, many of them migrate without much (if any) prior knowledge of their own rights and responsibilities, the conditions in the destination country, and potential avenues for accessing help, either from their own government or the host state. More importantly, they are structurally disadvantaged vis-à-vis internal migrants by the fact that they have crossed international borders, which leads to a fracturing of responsibilities between duty bearers in countries of origin, transit, and destination when it comes to protecting migrants’ rights. This is especially significant in a region which has a weak track record in recognising international human rights norms (and corresponding national-level instruments), combined with a lack of administrative capacities for implementing rights-based policies. In addition, the migration industry throughout both South and Southeast Asia has been largely driven by the private sector, which has been dominated by a large network of either un- or insufficiently regulated recruitment agencies profiting from the exploitation of migrants.

1 About half of the world’s migrants are female. In Asia, labour migration has traditionally been dominated by men, although there have been exceptions, particularly in Southeast Asia (Indonesia; Philippines) and Sri Lanka. However, even the traditionally more restrictive societies of South Asia have seen a significant increase in female migration in recent years, driven mainly by increased demand for migrant labour in overseas domestic work and care sectors, but also by lack of employment opportunities for families at home and resulting economic pressure on women to become the main breadwinners – abroad.

This set of circumstances makes migrants extremely vulnerable to various forms of abuse along their respective migration routes. The main destination countries for South and Southeast Asian migrants – particularly in the Gulf – are characterized by an extremely restrictive legal environment and the virtual absence of safeguards for human and labour rights, particularly for non-nationals, which makes accessing avenues for legal recourse extremely challenging. In addition, most of these countries either ban trade unions altogether, or prevent migrant workers from organising and/or joining any workers associations or unions. Their rights to political participation, including freedom of speech, of assembly, and of association, therefore remain unrealised in most cases.

Programme Overview DanChurchAid (DCA) has been working with partner organisations throughout South and Southeast Asia for the past six years in trying to address these issues in countries of origin, transit, and destination through a combination of grassroots education on safe migration, capacity building with civil society and government institutions, as well as national, regional, and international-level advocacy on migrants’ rights. DCA’s regional Migrants’ Rights Programme (MRP) (2012-16) in South and Southeast Asia represents the second phase of the former Asia Safe Migration (ASM) Programme (2007-11), and is currently being implemented through partners in seven core countries: India, Nepal, and Bangladesh in South Asia, and Cambodia, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. Since 2011, a EuropeAid Grant (and accompanying DCA funding for a corresponding shadow project) has facilitated the extension of project activities into the Gulf region by supporting a project focusing on labour migration from India to Oman.

DanChurchAid’s Migrant Rights Programme works on a strategy that promotes transnational networking and advocating with regional and global governance institutions to protect the rights of the migrant workers.

Our Programme StrategiesMRP takes a comprehensive approach that addresses rights issues of migrants in countries of origin, transit, and destination throughout the region. Our programme strategy focuses on:4 Strengthening civil society organisations,

particularly with a view towards empowering migrant workers and influencing policy

4 Increasing accountability of governments through lobbying at different levels, especially in relation to specific issues such as legislation protecting the rights of domestic workers, ratification of relevant Conventions, and implementation of rights-based migration policies

4 Expanding the notion of citizenship to a discriminated group like migrant workers by enhancing their participation in civil and political processes, in both destination and sending countries

Overall Objective Rights based migrant’s policies and programmes are developed and implemented.

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 1: Migrant workers are empowered to claim their rights

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 2: Civil society holds governments and other duty bearers accountable for ensuring rights of migrant workers

IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 3: Strengthened civil society organizations and government institutions working on migration

Our Impact GroupWomen –especially women in domestic workWorkers in irregular situationsMigrant workers in detention/conflict with the lawInformal workers in abusive/ trafficked situationsMigrant Leaders/DefendersMigrant workers in Situations of Emergency

Expected Outcomes 4 Increased number of migrants accessing

services and assistance, including interventions from duty bearers

4 Active participation of migrants, particularly women, in public activities and decision making processes.

4 Monitoring of legislation and government policies and practices by civil society

4 Ratification and implementation of International convention in particular C 189 and other rights based legislation and policies

4 Organizations and institutions working with migrant workers increasingly carry out strong rights based interventions

4 Increased and strong networking between organizations working with migrant workers at all level

Nepal

India

Bangladesh

Myanmar

Thailand Cambodia

Malaysia

Philippines

Our Working areas

Our Working areas

About DanChurchAid

DanChurchAid is a faith-based, non-missionary relief and development organization. Our everyday work strives to help the oppressed, neglected and marginalized groups in our focus countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to strengthen their possibilities of a life in dignity.

In Nepal, Bangladesh and India, we are involved in several thematic areas with our work focusing on disaster risk reduction and climate change, resilient livelihoods and food security, active citizenship and migrants’ rights, among other projects.

Our Partners

Nepal

PourakhiWomen’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC)

Bangladesh

Bangladeshi Ovibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA)

Cambodia

Legal Support for Children and Women (LSCW)IDEACambodian Female Migrants Network (CFMN)Cambodian Youth Network (CYN)

Burma/Myanmar

Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN)

Malaysia

Tenaganita

Thailand

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)

Philippines

Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

India

National Domestic Workers Welfare Trust (NDWWT)

DaNiDa79%

eU/eCHo21%

Funding Source

Country wise Programme Budget

Financial Information

Nepalindia

Bangladeshregional

Total

621,973.51 340,456.4281,705.70 4,512,073.38 5,556,209.01

DaNiDaeU/eCHo

Total

4,379,625.00 1,176,584.00 5,556,209.00

regional 81%

Nepal11%

Bangladesh2% india

6%

OUR CONTACT ADDRESS

DanChurchAidSouth Asia Regional OfficeGPO Box 4844, JhamshikhelWard No-2Lalitpur, Kathmandu, NepalPhone: +977 1 50 13 550Email : [email protected]

DanChurchAidIndia Office14, Palam Marg,Vasant ViharNew Delhi-110057, IndiaPhone: +91-11-26148279/80

DanChurchAidBangladesh OfficeHouse#83, Road #23Gulshan-1, Dhaka-1212BangladeshPhone: +88 02 8834343

www.danchurchaid.org