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ivil society groups called on Tuesday for the adoption of a regional framework to guarantee the rights of migrant workers in ASEAN.

Representatives of those groups from all 10 ASEAN member states issued a joint statement saying the adoption of a legally binding instrument would fulfill a commitment made at a summit in Cebu, the Philippines, 10 years ago.

“It is a golden moment for us to create this instrument 10 years after the chairmanship was last held by the Philippines. We cannot wait anymore,” said Ellene Sana from the Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines.

The issue of migrant workers has long been highlighted by the Philippine government, but efforts to create a regional instrument have stalled. As ASEAN chair this year, the Philippines promised the adoption of the instrument during the 31st ASEAN Summit in November.

The joint statement aims to address points of contention between origin countries, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, and receiving countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.

Key questions include the legal nature of the instrument, the protection of undocumented workers alongside documented ones, the protection of the families of those migrant workers and specific provisions on female and young workers that would culminate in a plan of action.

The civil groups hope their statement will form the basis for the instrument being drafted by ASEAN officials, even though their request for access to the content of the draft has been turned down by the drafting committee.

“We regret the lack of transparency on the part of the drafting committee, but we will continue giving recommendations based on the overarching issues that we understand,” said Daniel Awigra from Human Rights Working Group Indonesia.

Many of the representatives resented the current lack of help for migrant workers and the fact that the plight of vulnerable workers is often ignored by national governments.

Ridwan Wahyudi from the Indonesian Migrant Labor Union (SBMI) said many undocumented Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia were at risk of deportation but at the same time faced difficulties to achieve appropriate documentation, as that required a lengthy and costly process.

The civil society groups aim to articulate those points in the document to the ASEAN Working Group in charge of drafting the instrument, national government agencies such as the Indonesian Manpower Ministry as well as representatives from the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN.

“The strategic value of our statement is to ensure that human rights will continue to be the basis of the protection of migrant workers and their families, whatever their legal status,” said Awigra.