SEANF Paper on Migrant Workers
fees for migrant workers, and other related matters in labour recruitment, with
the objective of rooting out corruption and illegal recruitment.
58.
The SEANF urges the ASEAN Instrument to set out a regional system (working
closely with civil society organizations) which will systematically expose the
names of both individual recruiters and recruitment companies who are found
to engage in these practices and/or consistently violate labour laws and
regulations. Owners or operators of recruitment companies engaged in these
practices shall be held accountable in the courts, and their companies blacklisted
and effectively barred from any future involvement in labour recruiting in
ASEAN.
(3)
One-stop migration service centers
59.
In both sending and receiving countries, the SEANF finds that labour recruitment
and labour placement requirements are complicated, cumbersome, expensive
and time consuming, and involve multiple steps and processes at different
Ministries and agencies. A systemic lack of coordination among government
offices handling migrant workers affairs perpetuates these poorly run systems
which are subject to graft and bribe-taking.
60.
The SEANF recommends that the ASEAN Instrument call for both sending and
receiving governments to set up a “one-stop center” 22 where all administrative
and procedural matters regarding migrant worker registration can be handled.
The one-stop center should be under the command of one Ministry, preferably
the Ministry of Labour/Human Resources, with officials from other Ministries
or offices placed at the one-stop center on a permanent basis to fulfill needed
requirements. Applications and registration processes, health check-ups and job
placement, training and skills development, data collection, issuance of
documents, counseling and advisory services, legal assistance, and handling of
worker grievances/dispute resolution are among some of the services that
should be provided. A 24-hour helpline should be set up by the center, and
personnel on the helpline and at the center should be professionally trained
22 The applied system should be integrated among related institutions which handle migrant
workers issues. A complaint mechanism and unified legislation should be available.
31