SEANF Paper on Migrant Workers Executive Summary The ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers at the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007, and set out in Article 22 of the Declaration that an “ASEAN instrument”, or agreement, be developed to regulate migration and protect migrant workers’ rights in the ASEAN member states. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers then agreed in July 2007 to establish the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW), composed of representatives of each of the ASEAN governments, to negotiate the terms of the Instrument and serve as the core body to formulate policies for consideration by ASEAN on migrant workers. The South East Asia National Human Rights Institutions Forum (SEANF) strongly believes that the human rights perspective should be at the center of the policy discussions and drafting of the ASEAN Instrument to protect the rights of migrant workers. With this paper, the SEANF lays out its position on the ASEAN Instrument and the work of the ACMW, and urges the ACMW to avail itself of our expertise on human rights issues. In this policy paper, the SEANF shares our recommendations for the ASEAN Instrument. The SEANF also offers advice to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) for protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers. Finally, we make national recommendations for each of the governments of the four countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand) whose NHRIs form the membership of the SEANF. The SEANF states that the scope and coverage of the Instrument should address all issues relating to migrant workers. ASEAN should use the principle of “national treatment”, which is defined as non-discriminatory treatment that ensures migrant workers receive treatment no less favorable than the treatment accorded to nationals of the labour receiving state. This principle should be explicitly stated in the ASEAN Instrument in relation to wages and conditions of work for migrants, and respect to the terms and conditions of work contracts. All aspects of laws and regulations should be equally applied to migrant workers, with special attention to those relating to wages, labour, housing, social protection, access to grievance handling and legal procedures, and judicial redress insofar as they are not inconsistent with the contract of employment. 5