How will the ASEAN Economic Community impact Cambodia?

The end of 2015 is set to be the launch of the new single market in Southeast Asia, otherwise known as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Ten countries in the region, including Cambodia, are expected to benefit from “the free flow of goods, services, investments, and skilled labor, and the freer movement of capital across the region.” (Nay Pyi Taw Declaration, May 2014)

But with the construction of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region’s special economic zones also coming to a close in the next twelve months, what are the implications for migration in the area, and how will this affect Cambodia?

Is Cambodia ready for the AEC?

The AEC is predicted to increase Cambodia’s real GDP by 4.4 %, its exports by 5.3 % and private investment by 24.8 %.

However, poor infrastructure in road, rail, ports, as well as the limitations of the local electricity supply and telecommunications pose practical problems, according to Hing Vutha’s report ‘Cambodia’s Preparedness for ASEAN Economic Community 2015 and Beyond.’ Bureaucratic and logistical costs currently make the export procedure in Cambodia lengthy and expensive.

Cambodia may also lag behind others in terms of education and skill, due to the low literacy rate (73.9% 2012) and the majority of workers still educated only to primary school level. Many may not be able to compete with other countries like Singapore and Malaysia in a single jobs market.

Movement of skilled and unskilled workers

According to the ARTNeT policy brief on ‘Moving Freely? Labour Mobility in ASEAN’, Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) will ensure standard qualifications are recognised in professions like accountancy and medicine across ASEAN, alongside the development of the ASEAN Qualification Framework. However, there is nothing in place for unskilled workers.

“By limiting substantial co-operation on labour market access to high-skilled labour, ASEAN members are missing out on the opportunities and positive developmental impacts from facilitating well-managed migration.”

AEC’s agreements The Movement of Natural Persons (2012) and the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) are inherently selective, the first created with businesses sending personnel overseas temporarily in mind, and the second applying only to those who are employed with a registered company. These do not include unskilled labour or people simply seeking employment or citizenship elsewhere, one of several points where the AEC differs from the Europe Union.

Helen Sworn on
'Preventing Slavery & Trafficking in Persons in ASEAN', Bali

Increased migration; increased vulnerability

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) plans to facilitate trade between the six GMS countries (Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand) are also gathering steam this year. 

Speaking on the subject earlier this month at the 8th Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Bali, Indonesia, Chab Dai’s Helen Sworn has warned on the implications of Cambodia’s position in the midst of two new economic corridors that will essentially link China and India via Southeast Asia. ADB estimated back in 2004 that half a million trucks will travel through the region per day, which will increase the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDs as well as the risk of unsafe migration. Source communities will have fewer prospects and access to education as people move to economically stronger countries, with children left behind as parents migrate for work.

Human rights NGOs like Adhoc and NGOCRC have also warned that the ASEAN integration will lead to greater numbers of children in particular being trafficked or abused. Reported in Voice of America, Ya Navuth, head of the NGO Caram said:

“Children could also face more risk from economic pulls, experts warn. That includes families sending their children to work in other countries, where they will be vulnerable to abuse.”

How can Cambodia respond to the ASEAN and GMS changes?

Hing Vutha, speaking at the Chab Dai member meeting in May

The Migration Policy Institute report on ‘A ‘Freer’ Flow of Skilled Labour within ASEAN: Aspirations, Opportunities, and Challenges in 2015 and Beyond’ recommends ‘temporary schemes’ to expand the market access for low-skilled labours, creating legal channels to reduce irregular migration and ensuring sending countries be involved in monitoring the candidates before they emigrate.

Hing Vutha meanwhile, brings the emphasis back to education:

“Improving the education system should be the prime policy focus…Cambodia can benefit from the AEC since it can continue to import skilled labour from other ASEAN countries to tide it over this period of skills shortage. But over the longer term, the country should also focus on developing the skills of domestic labour so that it can reduce its dependence on foreign skilled labour.”

Though the ASEAN Convention on Trafficking in Persons and the ASEAN Plan of Action are expected to make positive steps on this issue before the end of the year, it’s clear that we and other organisations fighting to stop human trafficking in the region will need to maintain a coordinated effortto work across border lines, not just within one country.

Rohingya crisis: migrant status does not alter human rights

The sad story of the Southeast Asian migration crisis has saturated media publications across the world this week. Yet the issue continues to be unresolved, meaning the people crammed on boats with no food supplies and in often abusive conditions continue to drift between the Indian Ocean and the Andaman Sea, and between countries who continue to turn them away.

Along with migrants from Bangladesh, the current crisis in a large part involves the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, fleeing a harsh and violent life in a country which refuses to acknowledge their ethnic minority status.

Reportedly, the government of Malaysia has told the Rohingya to ‘go back to your country’. There have been similar reactions in the rest of the region. But how can this be the response, when Rohingyas effectively have no country to call their own?

Unrecognising the Rohingya

According to recent field research by Queen Mary University, London, conditions in the Rakhine State - home to the minority Muslim population of Myanmar – are tantamount to genocidal, and have been escalating since the 1970s.

The Rohingya face restrictions on education, movement, land rights – conditions which lead to extreme poverty, starvation and death. Outright persecution has reached a head in recent years such as the riots at Sittwe in 2012, 200 deaths there the result of clashes between Rohingya, the Myanmar army and police.

Despite the dangers of migration, for many Muslims who leave the predominantly Buddhist shores of Myanmar, it’s an escape, not a choice.

Refugees face ‘maritime ping-pong’

This past week has seen eight boatloads of migrants found in the waters off Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar and thousands of people displaced with nowhere left to turn. Almost half of those migrants are children aged 12 and under.

Described as ‘a game of maritime ping-pong with human life’ by the International Organisation for Migration in Bangkok, nation after nation has declined responsibility for people discovered in their territorial waters. UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has called for Southeast Asian leaders to uphold international human rights and refugee laws to avoid these ‘pushbacks’ which are likely to lead to more deaths out at sea.

Human traffickers take advantage

Ban-Ki Moon

Brokers and people-smugglers who ferry migrants to places like Thailand and Malaysia have been taking full advantage of the stalemate out on open water. Crack-downs on immigrants at the Thai border have prompted some traffickers to simply abandon their human cargo. Others are holding refugees on board or in Thai camps until their families can pay for their onward journey or even pay to have them returned home again, so rendering their efforts futile.

This is likely to continue, as long as authorities consider migrants and trafficked people as criminals to be dealt with using blanket actions, rather than individuals, each with fundamental human rights.

So where does the answer to the crisis lie? In challenging Myanmar’s oppressive system, one that continues to break down Rohingya rights and communities to keep them disenfranchised and powerless? In deciding who is ‘to blame’ for the boatloads of people dying as they become trapped in oceanic limbo?

There remains no clear-cut solution, not at least until nations take responsibility for the fellow human beings involved and begin to co-operate with each other, instead of passing the burden. It was Martin Luther King that said ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ and countries like Ecuador and the wider Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) reflected this as they offered support last week.

But in light of factors like Australia’s unapologetic ‘stop the boats’ policy influencing global attitudes towards displaced people, not to mention the similar crisis in Mediterranean Europe, it seems a small hope that someone will make the braver gesture, and welcome the boats in.

Images from the public domain and The Official CTBTO photostream, via Creative Commons.

The Global Woman: Breaking Down the Feminized Terrain

During my winter break from college, my friends and I went on a cruise to celebrate our hard work. Within this time, we realized what hard work really meant. On the cruise, we engaged and befriended the individuals who cleaned our cabins and served our food. We noticed that these employees served our needs from morning till night, 5 am to 10 pm to be exact.

We spoke to the servers including a bartender who had gone back to the Philippines to see her four year-old daughter, but while on the two month stay, her daughter had fallen deathly ill, and she had to stay a few extra weeks to make sure she was ok. Upon returning to the cruise line, she found out that she had been demoted, her title taken from her, and her salary reduced. However, her duties remained the same.

 It was then I recognized what a struggle it must be to leave your family behind in order to provide for them. A separation that causes much hardship and a unreconcilable angst and longing to be both a mother and a provider at a distance. This economic pressure that Global South women make "creates not a white man’s burden but, through a series of invisible links, a dark child’s burden” (Global Woman, p. 27).  Migration is viewed as a choice, the emotional extraction of Global South women as a personal choice, and the consequence of this displacement as a third world child's lot in life.


The book, Global Woman, addresses this very issue and provides three possible approaches within the first chapter. Two of these approaches were quickly disregarded based on the lack of acknowledgement on human cost. The first one was “all woman should stay home and take care of their own families” and the second one was “a supply of labor has met a demand—what’s the problem?” (27).  Approaches one and two are disregarded because they cease to consider the consequences that would follow should they be utilized. If all women stayed home to take care of their families' physical and emotional needs, how would that solve the financial issue at hand? Also, a supply of labor is found in these Global South women, and there is a demand for this supply in Global North countries, but what are the consequences of displacement for these third world women, what about the people they leave behind? All of this needs to be taken into consideration in order to understand that the solution is not as black and white as those two approaches suppose.

The first chapter finishes with an approach that leads us in the right direction; the “raise the value of caring work itself”, and that men also needed to share in the care of family members in order for “care [to] spread laterally instead of being passed down a social class ladder” (28). Whether it be fathers, sons, or brothers who take the time to care for their family members, the value of care would be raised and the idea that caring work should be secluded only to women or become a low-wage job for migrants would fall away or at the very least, start to break down the feminization of this type of work.

There are costs to living in a globalized world, but we, as a society, do not need to succumb to the negative effects, but instead need to continue to find solutions to the many issues that are being introduced in this rapidly changing, interconnected world. Living as an interconnected society means that there is a never ending pool of information to be sourced, culture to be learned, and commerce to be earned, but it also means that "the personal is global" (30), whatever issue affects one portion of society, now affects the entire global community. Therefore, the solution to global issues is found in the combined efforts of the global community.

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Addressing the Needs of Domestic Workers in Malaysia

Photo courtesy of Tenaganita, an NGO addressing exploitation in Malaysia.

As you may remember (from a few months ago), Chab Dai’s office building was formerly a recruitment agency for sending domestic workers to Malaysia.  Now Chab Dai is working to bring them back home.  The past few months have brought about exciting partnerships.  I recently sat down with Ms. Tho Narann (Chab Dai's Malaysia Cross-Border Case Officer), to discuss Chab Dai's brand new pilot project and partnership with the Coalition to Abolish Modern-Day Slavery in Asia {CAMSA Malaysia}.

The conversation between Chab Dai and several human rights and anti-trafficking partner organizations in Malaysia began last year, where the need was strongly expressed for an English-Khmer interpreter to assist Cambodian migrant workers who were experiencing abuse and filing cases in Malaysia.  (You can read about that here). Coordination and further discussions lead to the development of this collaborative-based, case coordination project between Cambodian & Malaysian partner.

“The main goal of the project is to improve the case coordination and tangibly provide a cross-border referral mechanism between Malaysia & Cambodia,” says Narann.   Due in part to language barriers and a complex legal system Cambodian domestic workers who experience exploitation in Malaysia are often labeled and treated as illegal workers, rather than identified as victims of human trafficking.  Though potentially exploited and experiencing physical and psychological abuse, migrant workers may be picked up by police and placed in government shelters or worse, deported.  Without a clear ability to understand the full story from the client, cases sometimes become stagnant.  Narann's role is to support cases of Cambodian migrant workers through Khmer/ English interpretation and assist in referring cases between Cambodian & Malaysian organizations, including repatriation and reintegration support when they return home. As a case officer she is actively building relationships with migrant workers, the Cambodian embassy, Malaysian labour officers, and NGO partners.  Cases can be handled efficiently and properly when the full story is communicated and understood.

Best case scenario, says Narann is to “get the women home and get their compensation from their employer.”  The hope remains for Chab Dai that this project will continue to advocate for Cambodian migrants workers in Malaysia and that further cross-border collaboration will result in sustainable justice and restoration. 

*To see more about Chab Dai and CAMSA, follow our updates on Facebook here and here.

'Shine On'

Reflections and prayers for grassroots collaboration around cross-border trafficking issues in the region: celebrations of the past, and hope for the future.

Collaboration can be challenging, and I'll admit to say so.

At times doing what I think is best,

.......Alone,.......Can seem easier.

But the regional impact I've seen in the last year through people working together

Causes me to hold to the belief that

........it's

........always

........worth

........the

........extra

........efforts.

So this is my prayer. God, remind us daily of this greater, collective impact.

Help us to act

.......Collaboratively,.............Not-competitively,....................Willing to compromise {our paths, not our vision},...........................With open hearts that strive to include others,
And help us to continually hope for unity.
Thank you God for showing me how your power can shine brighter through people united-
Like last year, when cross-border talks happened and a grassroots safety net was created for protecting Cambodian migrant women exploited in Malaysia.

........God, shine on in our partner referrals.

Like today, when I saw networks of people communicating ideas & strategies back and forth.

........God, shine on in our daily communication.

And like next week, when a collective Call to Action statement will go public and the endorsements of over 60 regional civil society organizations will shout together for Cambodian & Malaysian governments to expeditiously put mechanisms of protection in place for migrant workers!!

........God, shine on in our shouts across the region.

And like next year, well I don't know exactly, yet, but I know God that you care about migrants and victims of trafficking & exploitation. You are and will take care of them.

Through us.

God, shine on.
May our trust match your faithfulness

and your light magnify
as we join hands with others.

God restore our hearts to trust each other,

........To see together what alone we only dream is possible.

Learning,
Hoping,
And praying,........Together.

Amen.

Reflections From My Flight {Malaysia to Cambodia}

Most of you have probably been on a plane sometime in your life, be it across an ocean or only a quick hop closer to home. Likely your plane adventures at one time also included turbulence or your were forced to taxi for longer than desired. And maybe a few of you have even been on such a long flight that when the wheels hit the ground there was some mild cheering or clapping?

Last week my flight from Malaysia back to Cambodia was such a flight. Only this time the cheering & clapping wasn't because we survived the turbulence. It was the genuine excitement of 40+ women arriving back in their country after working two long years in a factory or as a domestic worker.

I can honestly say it was one of the best flights I have ever been on, and it was definitely not the service or in-flight meals which made it so great. So why then? Because I could actually feel the excitement, the joy, and the relief of workers who at some point had risked everything to earn money for their families. They missed their parents, their kids, they missed Khmer food, and also speaking Khmer. As the plane's wheels hit the runway, squeals, cheers, smiles, and excited clapping broke out spontaneously throughout the plane.

I too joined in with their clapping and cheering. For me, though, it wasn't about missing the country or food, per say (although I do love both), it was the JOY of seeing women & men returning home safely. 'They survived!' I thought to myself.

Survived what?
The stories my coworkers & I heard from women & girls during last week's visit in Kuala Lumpur, as well as the reports & research shared between partnering organizations over the last two years, have made me believe it's hard to survive. Beyond the problems of recruitment, debt bondage, and slave-like conditions migrant workers face in Cambodia, bound for Malaysia there is another set of problems awaiting them there. All power is completely in the hands of the company, and more specifically the employer himself. He or she dictates the working hours, holds the worker's passport, controls telephone privledges, locks the doors, pays the salary, and also renews the worker's work permit.

But what about her, the domestic worker? The one who like every other person in the world- holds basic human rights, including dignity, freedom, and access to food, water, and decent living? Nope, sorry, the system isn't worker-center. She is trained to listen & obey the employer, and try her best to please them at whatever the cost.

Example: I saw this list posted throughout the training center of one Cambodian recruitment company:

• I must be a good maid.
• I must work hard.
• I must not be lazy.
• I must make my employers happy.
• I must follow instructions my employer gives.
• I must finish my contract for two years.
• I must help my family earn money.

For me this simple list of 'rules' says a lot about the heart of this 'recruitment-work-system':

1. Clearly workers are NOT educated about their rights. Instead taught everyday for three months that anything the employer says they must do; therefore 'making the employer happy' is supposed to be more important than the workers' own well-being;
2. And it's manipulating to have 'I must help my family earn money' on the list. It adds to the already-felt pressure in Cambodian society for older daughters to provide for the welfare of the whole family. Whispering this subtly in her ear every day, may also add a level of shame that later prevents her from asserting her own rights and reporting harsh conditions or physical/ sexual abuse.

My HOPE is for more women to return safely home to Cambodia with the salaries they were promised and no scars. And for women to be educated about their right to hold their own passport while working, their right to a day off of work, and their right to access social services if needed. If you agree please join me with cheers and clapping!

-----------

Want to know more about the recruitment process in Cambodia or the harsh conditions in Malaysia? Read an in-depth interview between Equitas and myself in June 2011 on their blog. Or do a Google search for even more recent news & updates.

On Twitter? Follow me (@aimee_chabdai) and use #Camlabor to spread awareness news & stories about this form of trafficking.

Planning on migrating? Do you know someone who is? Please migrate safely, here are some tips:

• Copy your passport or write down your passport number and give it to your family.
• Read your contract before signing, and ask to keep a copy.
• Memorize Tenaganita's hotline number in Malaysia in case you need help: 012 335 0512
• Ask lots of question! Know the name and phone number of the recruiter, and the company you are working with.