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(ILO,
BANGKOK
) Representatives from
thirteen East Asian economies will take part in a high-level symposium
on managing labour migration in the region, to be held in
Singapore
this week.
Among
the topics to be discussed at the three-day event are the causes and
characteristics of
East Asia
’s labour shortages, and measures being taken to regulate
emigration, immigration and irregular migration.
The
guest of honour will be
Singapore
’s Minister of State for Manpower, Mr. Gan Kim Yong, who will also give the
keynote address. Those participating will include representatives of
Governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations from Brunei
Darussalam, Cambodia, China,
Hong Kong (SAR China), Indonesia, Japan, Laos PDR,
Malaysia, Philippines,
Republic of Korea, Singapore,
Thailand and Viet Nam.
The “Regional
Symposium on Managing Labour Migration in
East Asia
: Policies and Outcomes” is being jointly sponsored by the International Labour
Organization (ILO) and the Wee Kim Wee Centre of Singapore Management
University (SMU), and is also supported by the European Union. It will
be held at SMU 16-18th
May 2007.
The
workshop supports recent ASEAN initiatives to improve labour
migration, notably as laid out in its Declaration on the Protection
and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.
The
agenda includes discussions on the causes and characteristics of
East Asia
’s labour shortages, irregular migration, and policies for governing
labour emigration and immigration. In addition, regional experts will
present case studies highlighting some current issues, including
labour shortages in Japan, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore
and Malaysia; the impact of foreign labour in Taiwan; managing labour
recruitment and migration in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam;
regulating foreign workers in Singapore and the Republic of Korea; and
handling undocumented foreign workers in Malaysia and Thailand.
The
symposium takes place against a background of dynamic growth in
East Asia
, combined with a decline in the population. This predicted to
intensify labour shortages in the developed economies; the projected
aggregate labour shortage in the migrant-receiving economies of
Japan
,
Korea
,
Singapore
, Hong Kong SAR,
Thailand
, and
Malaysia
is more than a million workers a year.
Migrants
from the region’s labour sending countries – including the
Philippines
,
Indonesia
,
Laos
,
Cambodia
, and
Myanmar
– are expected to fill most of this shortage. But clandestine or
irregular migration is adding complexity to the situation.
For origin countries, irregular migration
makes their workers more vulnerable to exploitation.
For destination countries irregular migration creates
distortions in the labour market and makes enforcing labour standards
difficult. An approach
that regards migration as a process to be managed rather than a
problem to be solved is therefore crucial.
The
Symposium is open to the media. For more information, please contact:
Mr.
Manolo Abella,
International Labour Organization.
Tel.
+66 (0) 81 908 7374
Ms.
Chan Sze Min,
Wee Kim Wee Centre
Lee
Kong
Chian
School
of Business
Singapore
Management
University
Tel: 6828 0753
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Public Information
