Thursday, October 02, 2008 NGO demands gov't action vs trafficking
ADVOCATES for the protection of women, children and migrant workers called on the people to pressure their House representatives into pursuing the creation of policies and the amendment of existing ones regarding recruitment to work outside the country.
The Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child which spearheaded the gathering of non-government organization and civil society organizations working closely with migrant workers in the city last week identified four policies that they deem as "needing urgent solutions".
"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," Nelia Sancho, Executive Director of Buhay Foundation, earlier said.
The first of the four identified policies is the standard employment contract. The group said this "must contain sections that specify the core rights of migrant workers and mechanisms to protect those rights."
"Each contract must also include clear and detailed job description and relevant information on working and living conditions that the migrant worker will face in the receiving country," the group said in their recommendation paper, a copy of which was sent to Sun.Star.
Second, the group proposes the enforcement of the law relating to the standard placement fee as the laxity in monitoring of this leads to abuse.
"Abuse of the standard placement fee contributed to debt bondage, which is significant given that some are forced to sell their meager assets or secure high interest loans while other accrue this debt directly to the recruiting agency," they said in the paper.
Instituting means to reduce debt bondage is also among their concerns, saying an employee's debt is what that triggers entrapment in exploitative and abusive employment.
"Systemic labor migration costs associated with training, recruitment and placement fees could be offset by government or minimized by provision of no-interest government loans."
They also expressed concern over the mandatory testing for HIV, saying this should not be required by destination countries and that the government should not permit it to be imposed on migrant workers a pre-condition of employment.
"Following a rights-based approach, migrant workers should be provided with information and the opportunity to receive counseling and treatment depending on the result," the group said in the paper.
Embassies, they said, should also play a more active role in protecting and helping migrants who need assistance.
Protecting for migrant workers has been lobbied by the group considering the number of those who leave the country in a year.
Based on National Statistics Office (NSO) data, the number of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who worked abroad at anytime during the period April to September 2007 was 1.75 million.
This represents an increase of 15.3 percent over the estimated 1.52 million OFWs in April to September 2006.
Out of the total OFWs during the period April to September 2007, 92.4 percent (1.61 million) were Overseas Contact Workers (OCWs) or those with existing work-contact abroad.
The number of OCWs in April to September 2007 went up by 16.6 percent over the 1.38 million OCWs estimated for the same months in 2006. (GLP)
