Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted two key documents during the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Manila on Monday.
The two documents are the Statement on the Establishment of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers and the Guidelines for the Provision of Emergency Assistance by ASEAN Missions in Third Countries to Nationals of ASEAN Member Countries in Crisis Situations.
In their joint communique, the foreign ministers also endorsed Thailand's nomination of former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan as new ASEAN secretary-general to replace outgoing Singaporean Ong Keng Yong. ASEAN leaders are expected to inaugurate Surin at the grouping's 13th summit to be held in Singapore in November.
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry director for ASEAN political affairs Ngurah Swajaya said the new ASEAN committee will be tasked with implementing the ASEAN Cebu Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers as well as facilitating the development of an ASEAN instrument to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers.
The committee's functions will include, among others, the promotion of bilateral and regional cooperation on matters involving the rights of migrant workers, the sharing within ASEAN of best practices relating to the promotion and protection of migrant workers' rights and the harmonization of mechanisms between both sending and receiving states that promote and protect migrant workers' rights.
""The committee will come up with concrete ways to protect migrant workers in the ASEAN region. More importantly, it has been tasked to come up with a draft of legally binding conventions on the protection of migrant workers,"" Ngurah told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
With a large number of their citizens working in Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines had agreed to press for a legally binding agreement on the protection of migrant workers among the 10 members of ASEAN.
More than one million Indonesian citizens work as maids and plantation and construction workers in Malaysia and Singapore, both legally and illegally.
However, due to a lack of protection, Indonesian officials say at least 1,500 maids seek help at their offices across Malaysia each year.
Most complain of unpaid wages, but many also say they have been physically or emotionally abused.
The spectacular escape of 33-year-old Ceriyati Dapin, an Indonesian housekeeper who made headlines recently after she used a makeshift rope to flee a 15th-story apartment in Malaysia after allegedly having been beaten and threatened with her life by her employer, has highlighted the fate of many Indonesian workers abroad.
Under the guidelines to help ASEAN nationals in crisis situations, the missions of ASEAN members are to extend assistance to nationals of ASEAN countries who are caught up in conflict or crisis situations in third countries.
""The guidelines underscore ASEAN's recognition of our shared responsibility to uphold our people's rights and welfare given the rapidly changing conditions in our region brought about by globalization. We welcome the support of our ASEAN partners on this endeavor and we look forward to working closely with our neighbors and other friends in the international community to move this agenda further forward,"" Philippines Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo told a press conference after the meeting.
Recognizing that Southeast Asia is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, the foreign ministers also agreed to coordinate efforts to provide immediate relief, assistance and rehabilitation to disaster victims and implement measures to reduce the impact of disasters in the ASEAN region.
""We called for the early ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER),"" their joint communique read.
They also endorsed Indonesia's offer to host the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center).
""Considering the fact we have experienced several natural disasters, the center will be very crucial to us,"" Indonesian Foreign Ministry director general for ASEAN affairs Dian Triansyah Jani said.
