Care Work and Labour Migration in ASEAN

The ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour (AFML) is an open platform for the review, discussion and exchange of good practices and ideas between governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations, and civil society on key issues facing migrant workers in Southeast Asia. Each year the Forum develops recommendations to advance the implementation of the principles of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

Theme

The 17th AFML will carry the overall theme “Care work and labour migration in ASEAN” and cover two thematic sessions:

• Subtheme 1. Meeting care needs through labour migration: This subtheme discusses current and projected future care needs in the ASEAN region and the role of labour migration in meeting these care needs. The discussion will look into demand for care workers at different skills levels (high, medium, and low) and review good practices in ethical recruitment of care workers, and facilitating mobility for migrant care workers e.g. through Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), Bilateral Labour Mobility Agreements (BLAs), or Skills Mobility Partnerships (SMPs). The discussion will also take note of existing ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) for doctors and nurses, and consider the need for additional mutual recognition of skills systems for other care occupations in home-based and institutional care. Opportunities for international cooperation on skills development interventions for migrant care workers and the impact of care worker migration to the care needs of countries of origin will also be discussed.
• Subtheme 2. Enhancing protection and promotion of the rights of migrant care workers: This subtheme will discuss protection, empowerment, and conditions of work of ASEAN migrant care workers in a global context. It will be noted that to attract migrant care workers, ASEAN countries of destination need to ensure conditions are competitive, including taking appropriate reference from international standards such as the ILOs’ 5R Framework for Decent Care Work, especially in relation to: labour rights; social protection; skills mobility, recognition and development; and occupational safety and health. International good practices will be shared on policies and programmes to attract migrant care workers. Specific attention will be paid on rights protection, promotion of gender equality, conditions of work, the use of standard employment contracts (or proper documentation), and organizing of migrant domestic workers, especially women who are important providers of home-based care in the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour is a multi-stakeholder open forum held annually to discuss protection of migrant workers and labour migration governance in the ASEAN region. It is a recurring activity of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) under the Action Plan (2018 – 2025) to Implement the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. The AFML serves to provide the relevant stakeholders – tripartite members of the ASEAN Member States, civil society organizations, and international organizations – with a platform to exchange ideas and best practices on issues relating to migrant workers in the ASEAN region.

TRIANGLE in ASEAN support to the 17th AFML included hosting of tripartite plus national preparatory meetings in several ASEAN countries to develop national recommendations; hosting regional employers’ and workers’ preparatory meetings and supporting their participation in the AFML; publishing a thematic background paper; and publishing a progress review background paper on the implementation of AFML recommendations