MIGRANT FORUM IN ASIA (MFA) believes that migrants’ rights are human rights. Documented or undocumented, irrespective of race, gender, class, age and religious belief, migrant workers’ rights are guaranteed by the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and other international conventions.
MFA is a regional network of non-government organizations (NGOs), associations and trade unions of migrant workers, and individual advocates in Asia who are committed to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers.
Programs and Campaigns
Featured Member
Hope Workers Center
A founding member of Migrant Forum in Asia, Hope Workers Center in Chugli, Taiwan works to educate & assist migrants on their rights & lobby the government for fair employment conditions.
Statements
On June 2nd, following interventions by 26 of the participating countries of the International Labour Conference (ILC), five NGOs, including Migrant Forum in Asia, were given the opportunity to deliver statements to the social partners. This provided representatives of international civil society with a platform to present its concerns on remaining contentious points being debated among the employers, workers, and governments as they work towards consensus.
Central to all of these statements was the need for an understanding that domestic work is real work, worthy of respect, and that domestic workers are workers, like all other workers. Provisions such as the right to collective bargaining, freedom of association, the right to privacy, the implementation of social security schemes, etc. must all be drafted with this core principle in mind.
Statements were made by the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers, Human Rights Watch, International Christian Youth, Anti-Slavery International, and Migrant Forum in Asia.
Speaking for the MFA delegation, Ristanti, an Indonesian domestic worker employed in Singapore, spoke of the importance of a strong ILO Convention and Recommendation. “I thank my employer for giving me permission for a two-week leave so that I could be here to address you today. It is an honour to be a part of this historic moment. But as I stand here, I know that there are millions of other domestic workers who do not share that privilege.”Publications