Word: migrant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...flow of migrant workers between Indonesia and Malaysia is considered one of the world's largest and busiest labor hubs. If passed, these provisions will help protect the roughly 3,000 workers Indonesia sends to Malaysia every month. The vast majority of these work as maids and domestic workers and remit billions home every year, earning them their nickname of "foreign exchange heroines...
...Indonesia's actions are only the latest amongst migrant-sending countries seeking ways to protect their people when they go overseas, a shift from a time when financial considerations trumped all. However, some experts say privately that Indonesia's move may be a temporary gesture to please constituents during an election year. "There's greater attention being paid and more reporting and willingness of police and governments to take action in these cases," says Alan Boulton, Director of the International Labor Organization's Jakarta office. "NGOs have been able to bring attention [to] abuse cases...
...sending countries develop economically, they "now feel they have a moral obligation to protect their workers," says Christopher Lowenstein-Lom of the International Organization for Migration (ILO) in Bangkok. The Philippines - one of the world's largest migrant-sending countries - has set up worker-resource centers in destination countries to help distressed workers find help while they're overseas. Thailand, both a source and sending country for migrant labor, also offers consular services for its workers overseas, many who have suffered at the hands of human traffickers...
...past year, migrant-rights groups and governments have grown increasingly concerned as the global recession has made migrants more vulnerable to abuse. More workers are being taken advantage of by unfair wages or, worse, not being paid at all as companies have folded. Unemployed migrant workers in host countries are also willing to take on increasingly risky work to maintain their incomes or pay back growing debts. And as sending countries continue to battle hard times, the supply of people looking for jobs overseas - even in dangerous conditions - has increased...
...While many migrant-sending countries sign MOUs with employing nations as a way to build relations and bridge differences between labor laws, some migration experts are skeptical about their efficacy as typically, MOUs are nonbinding agreements. "They are written in very, very general terms," says Maruja Asis, research director at the Scalabrini Migration Center in Manila. "The implementation has been very problematic." Some experts say that MOUs can even harm migrants because they create a hierarchy of protection based on ethnicity or type of work. Host countries can be selective with which origin countries they will forge MOUs, creating situations...