ASEAN Parliamentarians Meet to Intensify Migrant Worker's Protection

4th April, 201
Xinhua Web Editor: Guo

Parliamentarians of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met here Monday to intensify partnership among the member countries on the protection and promotion of migrant workers' rights.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the three-day seminar on the role of parliamentarians on the protection and promotion of migrant workers' rights in ASEAN countries, President of Cambodian National Assembly Heng Samrin (pictured) said that migration for jobs is posing a concern for families and society.

He said women migrant workers and young migrant workers are sometimes exploited or trafficked, and even forced to use drugs.

"These challenges not only cause them to suffer but also create more difficulties for their families as well as for the whole society," he said.

"The main and important solution is not to prevent them from migrating, but in capacity as countries' leaders, we should find appropriate means and measures to safeguard them," he added.

Cheam Yeap, Chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly's commission on economy, finance, banking and audit, said that the seminar will help promote legal migration and seek harmonization of laws through partnerships in order to achieve the ASEAN community by 2015.

"Migration is the transitional issue, and the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers require participation of all parties concerned," he said.

ASEAN has a total population of approximately 600 million, which is equivalent to 8.8 percent of the world's population. Its GDP is 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars and the total labor forces involve more than 263 million people, he said.

For Cambodia, currently, it has dispatched some 126,000 migrant laborers to work in Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan, according to the report from Cambodian Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.

ASEAN declaration on the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers was adopted by the ASEAN leaders in the 2007 summit.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.