SEANF Paper on Migrant Workers B. Ratifying and upholding international human rights standards 7. The ASEAN Charter Article 2.2.[j] states that ASEAN shall “uphold the UN charter and international law, including international humanitarian law, subscribed to by ASEAN Member States.” 8. Since all ASEAN member states have ratified the CRC and CEDAW, the SEANF advocates the ASEAN Instrument, and the national laws of ASEAN member states regarding migrant workers, should be fully harmonized with the provisions of the CRC and CEDAW. 9. The SEANF notes that six out of ten ASEAN member states have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 7 Given that a meaningful majority of ASEAN member states acceded to these important international human rights instruments and the ASEAN Charter’s requirements to respect for human rights, the SEANF recommends the ASEAN Instrument should be fully harmonized with the requirements of ICESCR and ICCPR. 10. The SEANF recommends that ASEAN governments should immediately ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW) and harmonize their laws and regulatory frameworks with the ICRMW’s standards. The SEANF urges the Drafting Committee of the ASEAN Instrument to ensure its provisions are in accordance with the ICRMW. 11. All ASEAN member states are also members of the International Labour Organization. The ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted unanimously in 1998 notes that all member states of the ILO have “endorsed the principles and rights set out in its Constitution and in the Declaration of Philadelphia” and therefore are bound by an “obligation arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the 7 Among ASEAN member states, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam have ratified both ICESCR and ICCPR, while Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Singapore have not ratified either instrument. 16