Davao Workshop

Australian Attorney-at Law, Eleanor

CONFERENCE WORKSHOP on Human Rights, Migration, Trafficking and Labour Exploitation being held from 9am – 1130 am, Monday, 22 September 2008 at the Manor Hotel Davao,

D.A. Bldg., A. Pichon Street, Davao City.

Theme: Centring the Human Rights of Migrants, Trafficked Persons, Domestic Workers, Other Affected Sectors

participants at the Davao Workshop

speakers during the workshop

One of the presentations

participants at work

Ms. Nelia Sancho

trafficked victim

The participants

Mindanao Times (September 7, 2008, p. 11)

The Need for a Monitoring Mechanism for the UN Human Trafficking Protocol

The Need for a Monitoring Mechanism for the UN Human Trafficking Protocol

By Nelia Sancho, Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child-Philippines

For the Side Event at the 4^th Review Session of the UNTOC Conference of States Parties, October 13-15, 2008, Vienna, Austria

Organized by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), Anti-Slavery International and La Strada International.

This presentation is to respond to some discussion in the plenary of the 4^th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the UNCTOC on the need for a structured and comprehensive review of the implementation of the convention and its two protocols on migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons. Some of the aims given for this review include assessment of the trends in the fight against organized crime over a longer period of time, comprehensively assess progress and gaps in the capacity of States, as well as provide information in order to take informed decisions on the provision of technical assistance.

The framework of my presentation is based on the need/rationale for the mechanism from the perspective of national NGOs, who are working on anti-trafficking and lobbying for compliance – why would a monitoring mechanism help NGOs? Why especially for this convention is it important?

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), which is a network spanning five continents of more than 90 organizations committed to ending trafficking and to the protection of human rights of trafficked persons and women migrant workers, and its member organizations - like my own NGO, the Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child- would support the setting up by the Conference of States Parties of an effective monitoring mechanism to assess the implementation of the Convention and specifically, its two protocols. From the point of view of the various sectors affected by anti-trafficking measures, such as trafficked persons, migrant workers and sex workers, it is important that an evaluation be conducted not only of the Protocol’s implementation but also of the way or methodology that States parties implement measures for the prevention and prosecution of trafficking.

Since 2003 when the UNCTOC and its Protocols went into force, it was observed by the NGO anti-trafficking community that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in anti-trafficking efforts by governments and international bodies. However, GAATW, in its 8-country research report entitled “Collateral Damage” published in September 2007, has found that most counter-trafficking efforts did not really address the need for human rights protection of the trafficked persons and migrants. Instead, actions of most States Parties have mainly taken the law enforcement and border protection approach as their way to address trafficking. Measures that were implemented such as raids and rescues of women working in establishments deemed as “fronts” for prostitution became “standard” anti-trafficking responses in some countries of South East Asia and South Asia. In a country in South East Asia, young travelers, both below 15 and above 15 years old, who were profiled as “potentially trafficked” by both the government and non-government agencies in the name of anti-trafficking campaigns were held in halfway shelters near seaports, holding them for some 3 days or more, and virtually converting the shelters as temporary detention centers. Article 2 of the Protocol obligates States Parties to implement the Protocol with full respect for the human rights of trafficked persons and migrants who are considered as potentially trafficked.

Many NGOs particularly from the so called source or sending countries have expressed serious concerns on how one country has used its annual TIP report and tier-ranking of countries anti-trafficking performance has pressured many countries to institute measures and policies, some of which have been documented as affecting negatively the human rights of migrant workers and others sectors.

It is in this context that a discussion by the Conference plenary on the urgent need for evaluation and the appropriate mechanisms for monitoring of the implementation of the Convention and its two protocols will be significant and relevant given what is happening in many countries. Indeed, there is a strong recommendation from many NGOs to strengthen a human rights framework in the evaluation of the implementation of the Protocols and the Convention and to consider the negative impact on human rights of the affected sectors in the way that certain anti-trafficking measures have been framed and implemented.

In sum, from the perspective of anti-trafficking NGOs concerned with a human rights approach, we recommend the following elements to any review process and the mechanism to be set up by the Conference of States Parties (CoSP):

1. That any review process should be independent, engaging the States Parties multilaterally, as well as open to engagement with civil society as an essential element to realizing outcomes for the review;
2. It was observed that national legislations of some States parties that have come up after the trafficking protocol came into force contain concepts of trafficking that are characterized by a conflation of trafficking with prostitution, or have focused their anti-trafficking legislation for the sole purpose of sexual exploitation. In this regard, technical assistance to be provided to States parties as an outcome of a review mechanism should look at achieving clarity of the definition of trafficking and broadening the scope of the purposes and forms of human trafficking resulting in the proper identification and protection of all those who are trafficked;
3. That the review process could act as a means of promoting overall consistent implementation of UNCTOC’s trafficking protocol provisions, and
4. Finally, to look at the actions of States parties to address the root causes that create the conditions for vulnerabilities of people, especially women, to be exploited; and to explore the links between migration, trafficking, labour exploitation and human rights that are important in the prevention of trafficking. For example, we see the links of the exploitation of certain sectors of migrants as factors that make them vulnerable to trafficking, thus, the need to address human rights violations in labour migration.

It is our hope that any review mechanism of the Trafficking Protocol could affirm the responsibility of the States both in the source and destination countries towards the promotion of human rights and human security of the international migrants especially undocumented migrants and the victims of organized crime thru trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants. Migrants must indeed be able to exercise their fundamental human rights and benefit from minimum labor standards, and a minimum of socio-economic security in the countries of destination.

Davao Conference Workshop on Migration, Trafficking, Labour Exploitation and Centering the Human Rights of Migrants, Trafficked Persons...

Davao Conference Workshop on Migration, Trafficking, Labour Exploitation and Centering the Human Rights of Migrants, Trafficked Persons, Domestic Workers, Other Affected Sectors

Davao City. Mindanao, Philippines

September 22-23, 2008

CONFERENCE STATEMENT

We, the representatives of civil society organizations, academic sector, self-organized groups of migrant returnees and community based-women, NGO anti-trafficking practitioners as well local government social welfare officers gathered here on September 22-23, 2008 at the Manor Hotel Davao, in Davao City, Mindanao Island, Philippines to discuss the current situation faced by migrants, trafficked persons, domestic workers, women in prostitution, transgendered sex workers and other sectors. The conference workshop is organized by the Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child with support from the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) and has invited participants not only from Davao City but also NGO practitioners from Cebu City, Baguio City and from Metro Manila area. For two full days, we shared experiences and practices, concepts and perspectives as well as engaged in dialogue and critical analysis, pinpointed the gaps and addressed challenges relevant to the themes of the conference.

We came to listen to the testimonies offered by women migrants who have returned, and are now involved in advocacy work in their own self-organized groups. We thank them for sharing their dreams which drove them to migrate, and the resulting situation they confronted. Thru their stories, we came to understand why women and individuals in general are moving/crossing borders to work and what is the journey they are making.

We have felt the need to affirm that migration is a human activity that needs to be respected. That throughout human history, people have been migrating. However, in contemporary times, human insecurities have been triggered by persecution, armed conflicts and the consequent forced displacement, survival and the push to search for better options in life, discrimination, underdevelopment, inequality, environmental destruction. These root causes also created the conditions for human rights violations to occur and vulnerabilities of people, especially women, to be exploited. More and more, we are witnessing intense migration flows of people from all walks of life and in the course of this phenomenon, we find numerous migrant workers put into situations of abuse and labour exploitation, some deceived by traffickers, or coerced into slavery like work conditions.

In the discussions during the conference workshop, we began to explore the significance of linkages between migration, trafficking, labour exploitation and human rights that the participants consider as important in order to address human rights violations in labour migration to destination countries and the vulnerabilities to trafficking and exploitation of certain sectors of migrants particularly women. We have seen the need to confront the reality of female migrant labour as gendered – with many Filipino women brought to work in informal sectors that are unregulated and unprotected.

In this regard, we, participants of the Davao Conference Workshop call for the responsibility of the states both in sending and destination countries towards the promotion of human rights and human security of the international migrants especially migrant workers, undocumented migrants, and the victims of organized crime thru trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants. We affirm that migrants must be able to exercise their fundamental human rights and benefit from minimum labor standards, and a minimum of socio-economic security in the countries of destination. At the same time, we call on the source/sending /departure countries like the Philippines to develop policies on economic development that set as its priority a sustainable economic strategy to enlarge the local labor markets rather than seek to export more labor to destination/receiving countries.

It has been eight years since the UN adopted the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and its two supplementary protocols – the Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children and the Protocol on Migrant Smuggling. We express our deep concern that many states parties (particularly those in destination countries) have responded to the Trafficking Protocol by establishing legal frameworks aimed at restricting immigration and enforcing tighter border controls and which oftentimes result in restricting the movement of women who wish to migrate for work or in “profiling” certain types of women. In addition, anti-trafficking policies and initiatives have grown in number at the national and international level at an extraordinary rate since then. We share the current global concern expressed on the human rights impact of anti-trafficking measures through the 8-country research report of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women entitled “Collateral Damage: The Human Rights Impact of Anti-Trafficking Measures Worldwide” which findings, conclusions and recommendations were presented at this conference workshop in Davao City.

The Palermo protocol was signed and ratified by the Philippine government, and an Anti-trafficking in Persons Act had been passed in 2003 as a national law. In this conference workshop, we heard the report of the social work department officers of the Davao region and commended them on the dedication they showed on their work to prevent trafficking. They also reported the process of actively installing mechanisms such as the Davao Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) which engaged some NGOs in the work to prevent trafficking.

However, conference participants expressed their concern on some anti-trafficking measures that were implemented such as raids and rescues of women working in establishments deemed as “fronts” for prostitution. This practice seemed to have become “standard” anti-trafficking responses as gleaned from similar reports in some countries of South East Asia and South Asia. Serious concern were also expressed over the reported practice of some local and national-based anti-trafficking NGOs, who in cooperation with government agencies, were profiling unaccompanied young travelers below 15 years old and young women aged 15 to 18 as “potentially trafficked”. In the name of anti-trafficking campaigns such as “the war against trafficking” launched in August 2008 by NGOs supported by US government money, the youths and young women were held in halfway shelters near seaports, holding them for some 3 days or more, and virtually converting the shelters as temporary detention centers. It was discussed in the Davao conference human rights provisions of the Trafficking Protocol such as Article 2 which obligates States Parties to implement the Protocol with full respect for the human rights of trafficked persons and migrants whose rights are being affected by arbitrarily classifying certain types as “potentially trafficked”.

Speakers in the conference workshop have also raised questions and criticism on how one country has used its annual (Trafficking In Persons)TIP report and tier-ranking of countries anti-trafficking performance. It was reported that this has pressured several countries in Asia to institute measures and policies such as arbitrary raids and rescues, some of which have been documented as affecting negatively the human rights of migrant workers, women in the site of prostitution and other sectors.

In this regard, the participants call on the anti-trafficking NGO community in Davao City as well as in various cities and provinces of the Philippines to be aware of the human rights implications of some initiatives to end trafficking, whether by the government or of local/national NGOs, and to ensure that the human rights of migrant workers, trafficked persons and all others affected by anti-trafficking measures, are at the center of our work.

In addition, we urge civil society organizations to participate in the monitoring and review of the implementation of the Palermo protocol on human trafficking in the Philippines, as well as the national anti-trafficking law of 2003, and provide specific policy recommendations to respond to gaps and harmful practices seen.

We also urge the academic sector to support and be a partner in the efforts to generate evidence-based researches that can serve as inputs to policy making. There is need to provide evidence on the number of persons being trafficked, for what purposes, the patterns of trafficking and whether the human rights of the migrants and trafficked persons are protected or violated. Interviews and case studies of trafficking cases can enlighten us on the layered experiences and realities of the affected persons.

We wish to address the forthcoming meeting of government leaders such as the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) being held Oct. 27-30 this year, and the ASEAN Summit in Bangkok in December 2008 by drawing the attention of governments to the situation of millions of migrants around the world, and particularly in the ASEAN region, and to the need to take action and improve their situation by putting human rights protection of migrants as an important core agenda. Specifically, we urge the States to curb violations of migrant rights such as putting undocumented migrants in immigration detention centers.

We sincerely welcome the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers in January 2007 and the establishment of the ASEAN Committee to Implement (ACI) the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers in July 2007.

We recommend for a national and local campaign network to be set up to generate broad solidarity and concerted action as well as to address the challenge of advancing a movement in the country with a clear direction and message of centering the rights of Filipino migrant workers and trafficked persons that will ensure their voices and agency at the core of anti-trafficking policies, measures and practices.

And finally, because we are in the island of Mindanao, which is facing today an intensified armed conflict situation, we would like to express our deep concern to a growing number of migrants from among the Moro communities who are victims of displacement due eruption of armed hostilities between the military forces of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). We support the clamor for an immediate cessation of hostilities, in particular, for the Philippine military to desist from further military offensives, and that it immediately pulls out its troops from the region, and return to the negotiating table. We also oppose the arming of civilians by the Philippine government and demand the immediate disbandment of militias and private armies. Lastly, we will share in the collective task of civil society organizations to undertake activities that will advance a just and peaceful solution to the 30-year conflict in Mindanao , one that respects the right of the Moro people for self-determination and provides a long lasting framework to the displacement and consequent migration flow of peoples from affected Moro communities.

Specific action points and proposals have been framed in the attached RECOMMENDATIONS to respond to the abuse and exploitation of migrant labour and the deepening of vulnerabilities of women and communities; to prevent trafficking, protect trafficked persons and others affected by anti-trafficking policies; and to prosecute traffickers and illegal recruiters and those in government involved in corruption activities. We hope that any campaign network or mechanism to be formed in the future will be tasked to realize the implementation of the attached recommendations that has come out from this conference workshop.

Recommendations to the Philippine Government

Policies and procedures for recruitment of migrant workers to work outside the country

In our work as NGOs and civil society organizations working closely with migrant workers, we have identified a number of important problems related to recruitment that need urgent solutions. We recognize that there is often a gap between the promises of the Government to follow international standards and the reality faced by the people who are seeking to migrate.

1. A standard employment contract that contains sections that specify the core rights of migrant workers, and mechanisms to protect those rights. Each contract must also include a clear and detailed job description and relevant information on working and living conditions that that migrant worker will face in the receiving country.
2. Enforce the law relating to the standard placement fee. Greater efforts should be made to create public awareness of the standard fee, and to increase monitoring and enforcement of agencies’ practices in this area. Abuse of the standard placement fee contributes to debt bondage, which is significant given that some are forced to sell their meager assets or secure high interest loans while others accrue this debt directly to the recruiting agency.
3. Consider means to reduce debt bondage. The issue of debt bondage is paramount as in many instances, it is an employee’s debt that triggers their entrapment in exploitative and abusive employment. Systemic labour migration costs associated with training, recruitment and placement fees could be offset by government, or minimized through the provision of no-interest government loans.
4. That mandatory testing for HIV should not be required for migrant workers by the

destination countries. Government should not permit such requirements to be

imposed on migrant workers as a pre-condition of employment. Rather,

following a right-based approach, migrant workers should be provided

with information and the opportunity to access voluntary testing services

and be assured that they have the opportunity to receive counseling and

treatment depending on the result.

Policies and procedures for protection for migrant workers overseas

Embassies should play a more effective and central role in advocating for the protection of our migrant workers’ rights and helping migrants who need assistance.

Protection of the rights of migrant workers is a core part of their duties and regular work -- and they should be held accountable if they fail to provide effective assistance migrant workers in need of help.

Government should insist that migrant workers shall not be discriminated against in any way. The Government should also insist and actively work to ensure that all migrant workers are treated equally before the law in receiving countries.

Training, Safe Migration and Awareness Raising for Migrant Workers

The new training program should use a rights-based perspective to educate migrant workers, thereby helping to empower them and promote their ability to understand and take actions to effectively protect their rights.

We believe that safe migration approaches offer important information and understanding to intending migrant workers which can help them protect themselves when they depart the country to work. Therefore, safe migration principles should be taught to migrant workers, and should be combined with practical information (tailored to the situation in the country to which the migrant is going) as part of the pre-departure curriculum.

Safe migration information should also be widely disseminated to the communities where migrant workers originate.

The Government should establish a program of awareness raising for migrant workers about all the relevant details and risks of working outside of the country and ensure that this information is spread in communities where migrant workers originate, and re-emphasized.

Policies and procedures for protection of domestic workers

Pass the Batas Kasambahay Act. This will give domestic workers greater opportunity to access basic labour rights and entitlements and reduce the risk of their abuse and exploitation.

Prosecute employers who abuse workers, including confining domestic workers to the workplace. Greater attention needs to be paid to the investigation and prosecution of Filipino employers who abuse workers. Cases of psychological, physical and sexual abuse, food deprivation, and forced confinement must be pursued.

Trafficking in Persons

First and foremost, Government must ensure that all its officials, both inside and those working at Embassies overseas, fully understand that human trafficking is a crime that is committed against all persons – women, children, and men – and for all end purposes, including trafficking into forced labour. The Government should actively promote this understanding in its engagement with other Governments in ASEAN.

NGOs and other stakeholders to monitor the implementation of the law and make public reports and interventions when cases of abuses occur.

The Government should find resources and make arrangements to provide proper training on basic knowledge on human trafficking to police authorities, with a special focus in assisting police be able to effectively identify victims of trafficking. Police reforms should also be considered, such as formation of a truly independent, professional, and non-corrupt police authority at the airports and seaports to improve anti-trafficking response.

The Government should ensure that there is effective legal protection for victims of human trafficking. The Government should take all steps required to ensure that persons who are victims of human trafficking are not held responsible for criminal offenses that they are forced or coerced to commit while being held in trafficking situation. The Government should also insist on such protections for its citizens who are trafficked overseas and make bilateral representations to all Governments inside and outside of ASEAN which do not abide by this core international standard practice.

We urge the Philippine government to re-open the “runaway “ shelter in Jordan which was closed by the Philippine embassy just last June. Abused and exploited migrants and trafficked persons overseas should be provided with an appropriate place/center to guarantee their personal safety.

Increase efforts to identify and prosecute cases of official corruption. The Government should increase efforts to prosecute cases of official corruption. Many reports cite the issue of official corruption as a major factor undermining the government’s detailed labour migration structure. Increased policing and prosecution is required to enable the official structure to operate effectively.

We urge the various Philippine government agencies and the anti-trafficking mechanism established i.e. the IACAT, to study the findings on the human rights impact of anti-trafficking measures and consider the ten recommendations of the GAATW research report “Collateral Damage”. We wish to highlight four of these recommendations that we think should be a priority:

• Give trafficked persons better access to justice and compensation.
• End the practice of making assistance conditional.
• Create more safe opportunities for migrant workers.
• Ensure decent working conditions for all workers

Recommendations to ASEAN

We strongly believe that the regional Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (which will be developed by the ASEAN Committee to Implement the ASEAN Declaration on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers) should be legally binding on all ten ASEAN states.

We recommend that the Government should conclude bilateral MOUs/agreements (with focal points established to ensure effective implementation of the agreement) with key nations. These bilateral MOUs/agreements should be in accordance with the principles and provisions of the above-mentioned regional agreement, and should be understood to supplement the regional agreement and to address bilateral issues that are outside the scope of the regional agreement. It must be clear that the bilateral MOUs/agreements of any sort must be in accordance with international human rights and labor standards.

We recommend that there should be an agreement on a “standard medical package” of services that will provided by receiving states (in cooperation with sending states) to migrant workers wherever they are in ASEAN. The provisions of this package would have to be negotiated, but it should contain elements of preventative as well as curative care, access to public hospitals, reproductive health and family planning, and public health and hygiene information. A core element of the plan would be a requirement for the employers of the migrant workers to pay costs associated with the medical package, and a strict prohibition against employers making deductions from migrant workers’ pay for medical costs.

All ASEAN nations must adopt regulations that permit documented migrant workers to change employers without losing their work permit status or their right to continue to work and reside in the receiving country. These regulations should neither be burdensome nor should they require any additional expenditure by the migrant worker to change the employer listed on the work permit.

There must be a clear and absolute prohibition on seizure of passports or migrant workers’ documents, or the destruction of those documents, by Government officials, employers, brokers, agents, recruitment agencies, or any other persons in the receiving country. There should be severe penalties imposed against persons who seize and/or destroy migrant workers’ documents.

In accordance with international core labour standards, the Convention on Migrant Workers (CMW) and other international human rights instruments, all ASEAN states should allow for migrant workers to form and/or join trade unions in the receiving nation.

No ASEAN country should criminalize undocumented migrant workers nor use corporeal punishment (such as caning) against migrant workers.

ASEAN should set out a no-tolerance policy towards use of violence against migrant workers, and should ensure that all its member nations provide migrant workers with the same rights to access to justice as the national of the receiving country. Migrant workers who return to their country of origin shall have the right to file a legal complaint against an abuser in the receiving country. A system (if not yet in place) should be developed where the migrant worker can file a legal complaint through the Embassy of the receiving country, and this Embassy would then be required to transmit the complaint back to the receiving country for action by the receiving country’s courts. The Philippine embassy in the receiving country should be required to monitor the progress of the migrant worker’s case filed in the receiving country’s court, and provide regular updates.

Statement of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)

Statement of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) to

the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)

Manila, Philippines, 27-30 October 2008

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)^[1] is committed to ending trafficking and to the protection of the human rights of trafficked persons and women migrant workers.

We take this opportunity to present our position on GFMD Roundtables 1.1 Protecting the rights of migrants and 2.2 Managing migration and minimizing the negative impacts of irregular migration. We call for the following:

4. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

5. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

6. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

Despite many governments' commitments to human rights and well-intentioned efforts to address human trafficking, the rights of migrant and trafficked women are still being violated. In 2007, GAATW published Collateral Damage, a report[2] which examines what measures states in eight countries have taken to combat trafficking and the human rights impacts of these measures. This has provided a strong evidence base for recommendations.

1. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

GAATW is concerned with the assumption in Roundtable 2.2 that 'irregular migration' is linked to or synonymous with trafficking, implying that managing and clamping down on irregular migration, through strict border controls, would best address trafficking. Not only does this overlook that trafficking occurs even when a person has migrated through regular channels, it also ignores the present reality in which many working class people must migrate through whatever means to survive.

Anti-trafficking laws are adversely affecting working class migrants by restricting semi-skilled women's movement from their country of origin or at border crossings. To date, trafficking prevention efforts have centered on the movement of potentially trafficked persons by tightening border security and preventing certain low-skilled migrant workers from leaving origin countries or entering countries of destination. This makes the migration process difficult for all migrants and increases the need for third-party assistance (brokers, agents) which increases migrants vulnerability to traffickers. Thus, when not properly assessed anti-trafficking laws can increase trafficking.

Anti-trafficking measures are commonly developed to 'protect women', rather than protecting their rights. This has led to women from some origin countries being denied the right to leave their country. For example, the Indian Government considered women migrant workers a "particularly vulnerable lot" and "issued an order prohibiting any female household worker below the age of 30 from being employed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under any circumstance."[3] To avoid this ban, women are having to take riskier migration options than their male counterparts, making them more vulnerable to abuse at the destination point.

Destination countries have also closed their borders in misguided attempts at protection. Many Brazilian women attempting to enter the European Union have been repeatedly denied entrance and repatriated on the grounds that immigration officials thought they looked like "prostitutes" and thus likely to be trafficked. The preventative language used here does not mask the violations of women's rights to freedom of movement and freedom from discrimination. More empowering strategies must be found.

2. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

Under many migration management programmes, the ability of people who need to migrate for work in order to survive or to improve their well-being is being severely restricted, as people are prevented from being able to migrate legally and safely into fair and reasonable working conditions.

Migration and labour policies are discriminating against poor people and particularly poor women. Such discrimination creates opportunities for dishonest brokers, corrupt officials and ruthless employers to exploit or traffic migrants. Effective prevention of trafficking thus requires recognition of the migration-trafficking nexus and seeks to facilitate and promote safe migration and fair work for all. Migration policies should be reformed so as not to contravene the aims of anti-trafficking initiatives.

Most trafficked persons are economic migrants, but it is important to remember that the vast majority of economic migrants are not trafficked. Governments and civil society organisations therefore need to work closely with migrants to determine not only what makes them vulnerable to trafficking, but also what safeguards were instrumental in ensuring a 'safe migration' situation.

3. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

The first GFMD Roundtable (1.1 and 1.2) emphasizes that "[r]especting the rights of migrants is especially relevant for lower skilled labour migrants and also for female migrants..."[4] The rights-focus in GFMD Roundtables 1.1 and 1.2 should not be forgotten in Roundtables 2.1 to 3.3, which are not explicitly about rights.

The GFMD Roundtables run concurrently, and we question whether the conversations on
human rights being discussed in one room will have any impact on the discussions on
irregular migration in another. We challenge those delegates attending
Roundtables 2.1 to 3.3 to ensure that human rights implications of
regularisation policies, anti-trafficking legislation and migration management
programmes are examined.

We urge governments to take seriously not only the human rights of regular migrants
but also those who are undocumented. Further we encourage governments to maintain
a human rights approach which does not make the protection of the

rights of

migrants and trafficked persons secondary to the perceived protection of
national security.

Trafficked persons are migrants who have ended up working in exploitative working conditions. Appropriate protection of the rights of migrants and workers is essential. Human rights such as freedom of movement, the right to migrate and freedom from discrimination should be rights given to all migrants including trafficked persons.

We appreciate that human rights have been included in this year's GFMD programme, and we would like to comment on the instrumental nature of their inclusion. The topic description for Roundtable 1.1 states: "These standards and rights are accorded to migrants on the assumption that a protected worker is a more productive worker, and thus, becomes a better agent of development."[5] We would like to emphasize the equal, universal and inalienable nature of human rights, rather than an instrumental one. Rights should not be conferred on people depending on whether the meeting of a right is deemed 'useful' for development or any other cause. Rather rights should be granted for rights' sake, rather than because they make someone a 'productive worker'.

Recommendations

1. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

o Protect people against discriminatory practices that particularly restrict semi-skilled women at points of origin and at border crossings.

2. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

o Reform migration policies to be in line with national and international anti-trafficking legislation to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

o Ensure that migrants are involved in developing appropriate mechanisms to end labour exploitation and trafficking, by their identification of safeguards instrumental to ensuring 'safe migration'.

o Allow for full migrant participation in the GFMD process and discussions.

3. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

o Recognize the rights of all migrants (undocumented and documented) as equal, universal and inalienable.

o Maintain a human rights framework and impact assessment in all GFMD roundtables.

o Uphold the rights of all migrants to freedom of movement, to migrate, and to freedom from discrimination, over and above perceived protection of national security.

GAATW International Forum

GAATW International Forum

Collateral Damage: The Impact of Anti-Trafficking Policies on Human Rights

of Migrant and Trafficked Persons

Where: Makati Skyline Restaurant, Mezzanine Flr, World Trade Center

Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Pasay City

Date: 23 October 2008

Time: 2pm-4:30pm

According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, anti-trafficking measures “shall not adversely affect the human rights and dignity of persons, in particular the rights of those who have been trafficked and of migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers”¹. However, human rights advocates and activists are increasingly concerned that the strategies designed to fight trafficking may prove harmful to the very people they are intended to benefit.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)², an international network of more than 90 organisations, recently published a research report exploring the “collateral damage” of anti-trafficking measures on migrant and trafficked women in eight countries across five continents. The conclusions revealed that these policies are having negative impacts on both trafficked persons and migrants, and have led GAATW to call for urgent improvements to ensure that migrant and trafficked persons do not become “victims” of anti-trafficking. Eleven recommendations from the research are directed at governments, policy makers, law enforcement officials, labour and human rights defenders, human rights bodies and institutions, as well as at NGOs at national, regional and international levels.

As a Pre-Event to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Manila, GAATW will share the findings and recommendations of this ground-breaking study with government agencies in the Philippines including the Department of Foreign Affairs; members of the diplomatic corps; international, regional and national NGOs; and local and international media.

The objective of this event is to present different aspects of the human rights impact of anti-trafficking policies and legislation on migrant and trafficked women. This will include a national perspective of the Philippines, international examples from GAATW’s report, the impact of anti-trafficking on migration, and recommended solutions to improve the human rights protection of both migrants and trafficked persons.

Our honourable speakers include:

• Mr. Thongbai Thongpao, 1984 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service, human rights lawyer and activist and former Thai Senator
• Ms. Jackie Pollock, founding member of the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) and expert on migrant issues in the South East Asia region
• Ms. Nelia Sancho, Executive Director of the Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child in the Philippines, GAATW International Board Member

For further information, please contact Ms. Michelle Taguinod michelle@gaatw.org, GAATW International Secretariat Office, Bangkok, Thailand telephone: 662-8641427/8, Fax: 662-864-1637. In the Philippines, please contact Ms. Nelia Sancho, telephone (632) 4331680; mobile: 09175269144.

RSVP Form

Name & DESIGNATION (if more than one person is attending from the same organisation, please include):______________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

oRGANISATION:__________________________________________________________

Email:__________________________________________________________________

[ ] I/we will attend the GAATW International Forum: Collateral Damage on 23 October from 2-4:30 at the Makati Skyline Restaurant in the World Trade Center, Manila.

Global Forum on Migration and Development

Dear Friends,

The second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD, see www.gfmd2008.org) will be in Manila, Philippines, from 27-30 October 2008, with parallel events starting from 22 October. Last year's GFMD included more than 800 government participants from 156 countries, as well as hundreds of migration focused civil society organisations. We have drafted a statement that needs your signature. The more support it gets, the more robust the message will be.

GAATW is organising an event on Collateral Damage, another on our Recognize Rights Campaign, and co-organising a UN Special Rapporteur consultation focused on domestic work. Finally, we are going to the 'Official CSO Days' – though CSOs, migrants, and migrants organisations are sidelined from the official government discussions.

Given all that is going on, a GAATW network statement is important as a way to solidify and present our message. It is attached and we are hoping to have as many members and friends sign on as possible. The statement will go to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Migration and Slavery and to government representatives who come to our Collateral Damage event or who we have audience with at the 'Official CSO days'. It will also be distributed to many of the CSOs represented.

The statement has three main points:

1. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

2. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

3. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

It is attached, as well as copied below. Please reply by 20 October 2008, stating that you would like your organisation to sign on to this Statement. Reply to this email or send an email to rebecca@gaatw.org or aneeqa@gaatw.org.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Napier-Moore

GAATW Research and Training Programme Officer

Statement of the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) to

the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)

Manila, Philippines, 27-30 October 2008

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW)^[1] is committed to ending trafficking and to the protection of the human rights of trafficked persons and women migrant workers.

We take this opportunity to present our position on GFMD Roundtables 1.1 Protecting the rights of migrants and 2.2 Managing migration and minimizing the negative impacts of irregular migration. We call for the following:

4. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

5. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

6. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

Despite many governments' commitments to human rights and well-intentioned efforts to address human trafficking, the rights of migrant and trafficked women are still being violated. In 2007, GAATW published Collateral Damage, a report[2] which examines what measures states in eight countries have taken to combat trafficking and the human rights impacts of these measures. This has provided a strong evidence base for recommendations.

1. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

GAATW is concerned with the assumption in Roundtable 2.2 that 'irregular migration' is linked to or synonymous with trafficking, implying that managing and clamping down on irregular migration, through strict border controls, would best address trafficking. Not only does this overlook that trafficking occurs even when a person has migrated through regular channels, it also ignores the present reality in which many working class people must migrate through whatever means to survive.

Anti-trafficking laws are adversely affecting working class migrants by restricting semi-skilled women's movement from their country of origin or at border crossings. To date, trafficking prevention efforts have centered on the movement of potentially trafficked persons by tightening border security and preventing certain low-skilled migrant workers from leaving origin countries or entering countries of destination. This makes the migration process difficult for all migrants and increases the need for third-party assistance (brokers, agents) which increases migrants vulnerability to traffickers. Thus, when not properly assessed anti-trafficking laws can increase trafficking.

Anti-trafficking measures are commonly developed to 'protect women', rather than protecting their rights. This has led to women from some origin countries being denied the right to leave their country. For example, the Indian Government considered women migrant workers a "particularly vulnerable lot" and "issued an order prohibiting any female household worker below the age of 30 from being employed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under any circumstance."[3] To avoid this ban, women are having to take riskier migration options than their male counterparts, making them more vulnerable to abuse at the destination point.

Destination countries have also closed their borders in misguided attempts at protection. Many Brazilian women attempting to enter the European Union have been repeatedly denied entrance and repatriated on the grounds that immigration officials thought they looked like "prostitutes" and thus likely to be trafficked. The preventative language used here does not mask the violations of women's rights to freedom of movement and freedom from discrimination. More empowering strategies must be found.

2. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

Under many migration management programmes, the ability of people who need to migrate for work in order to survive or to improve their well-being is being severely restricted, as people are prevented from being able to migrate legally and safely into fair and reasonable working conditions.

Migration and labour policies are discriminating against poor people and particularly poor women. Such discrimination creates opportunities for dishonest brokers, corrupt officials and ruthless employers to exploit or traffic migrants. Effective prevention of trafficking thus requires recognition of the migration-trafficking nexus and seeks to facilitate and promote safe migration and fair work for all. Migration policies should be reformed so as not to contravene the aims of anti-trafficking initiatives.

Most trafficked persons are economic migrants, but it is important to remember that the vast majority of economic migrants are not trafficked. Governments and civil society organisations therefore need to work closely with migrants to determine not only what makes them vulnerable to trafficking, but also what safeguards were instrumental in ensuring a 'safe migration' situation.

3. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

The first GFMD Roundtable (1.1 and 1.2) emphasizes that "[r]especting the rights of migrants is especially relevant for lower skilled labour migrants and also for female migrants..."[4] The rights-focus in GFMD Roundtables 1.1 and 1.2 should not be forgotten in Roundtables 2.1 to 3.3, which are not explicitly about rights.

The GFMD Roundtables run concurrently, and we question whether the conversations on
human rights being discussed in one room will have any impact on the discussions on
irregular migration in another.  We challenge those delegates attending
Roundtables 2.1 to 3.3 to ensure that human rights implications of
regularisation policies, anti-trafficking legislation and migration management
programmes are examined.

 We urge governments to take seriously not only the human rights of regular migrants
but also those who are undocumented.  Further we encourage governments to maintain
a human rights approach which does not make the protection of the
rights
of

migrants and trafficked persons secondary to the perceived protection of
national security.  

Trafficked persons are migrants who have ended up working in exploitative working conditions. Appropriate protection of the rights of migrants and workers is essential. Human rights such as freedom of movement, the right to migrate and freedom from discrimination should be rights given to all migrants including trafficked persons.

We appreciate that human rights have been included in this year's GFMD programme, and we would like to comment on the instrumental nature of their inclusion. The topic description for Roundtable 1.1 states: "These standards and rights are accorded to migrants on the assumption that a protected worker is a more productive worker, and thus, becomes a better agent of development."[5] We would like to emphasize the equal, universal and inalienable nature of human rights, rather than an instrumental one. Rights should not be conferred on people depending on whether the meeting of a right is deemed 'useful' for development or any other cause. Rather rights should be granted for rights' sake, rather than because they make someone a 'productive worker'.

Recommendations

1. Restrictive border controls and bans on women's movement should not be considered methods to stop trafficking.

o Protect people against discriminatory practices that particularly restrict semi-skilled women at points of origin and at border crossings.

2. Migration policies should not contradict the aims of anti-trafficking policies to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

o Reform migration policies to be in line with national and international anti-trafficking legislation to protect trafficked persons and other migrants.

o Ensure that migrants are involved in developing appropriate mechanisms to end labour exploitation and trafficking, by their identification of safeguards instrumental to ensuring 'safe migration'.

o Allow for full migrant participation in the GFMD process and discussions.

3. Migrants' rights should be upheld in practice, and central to all GFMD discussions.

o Recognize the rights of all migrants (undocumented and documented) as equal, universal and inalienable.

o Maintain a human rights framework and impact assessment in all GFMD roundtables.

o Uphold the rights of all migrants to freedom of movement, to migrate, and to freedom from discrimination, over and above perceived protection of national security.