Consultation workshops on ASEAN Declaration and ASEAN Guidelines on Protection of Migrant Workers and Family Members in Crisis Situations

On 13-14 March, the current ASEAN Chair, the Government of Indonesia, hosted two ASEAN consultation workshops in Bali, Indonesia. The workshops were:

• 2nd Workshop on the Development of the ASEAN Guideline on the Protection of Migrant Workers in Crisis Situations, 13 March 2023, and
• Multi-Stakeholder Forum on the Development of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection of Migrant Workers in Crisis Situations, 14 March 2023

The meetings brought together representatives of the ASEAN Senior Labour Officials Meeting (SLOM), ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW), ASEAN Labour Inspection Committee (ALICOM), Senior Officials Meeting on Health Development (SOMHD) and ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM). The Chair and incoming Chair of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Chair of the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) and SOMTC Lead Shepherd for Trafficking in Persons, Chair and Vice-Chair of the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and Chair and Vice-Chair of the Senior Officials Meeting on Social Welfare and Development (SOMSWD) also attended. Representatives of workers’ organizations, employers’ organizations and civil society organizations of ASEAN Member States were participating.

The purpose of these meetings was to discuss and seek stakeholder feedback on zero drafts of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection of Migrant Workers in Crisis Situations and the ASEAN Guidelines on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Family Members in Crisis Situations, respectively. The ASEAN Declaration as adopted at a closed-door ASEAN Senior Labour Officials Meeting (SLOM) following the multi-stakeholder consultation on 10 May 2023. The ASEAN Guidelines are scheduled for adoption later in the year.

The ILO’s TRIANGLE in ASEAN programme, together with the IOM and ASEAN Secretariat, has been providing technical support to the Government of Indonesia on the development of these new ASEAN instruments since October 2022. TRIANGLE in ASEAN is a partnership between the ILO, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC). Financial support to the 13-14 March consultation workshops was provided through TRIANGLE in ASEAN, IOM, ASEAN–Australia Counter Trafficking (ASEAN-ACT) and the Addressing Labor Exploitation in Fishing in ASEAN (ALFA) project.