Philippines Fetes Leadership in Labor Mobility Advocacy during the United Nation’s Regional Review of the Global Compact on Migration

The Philippines successfully steered discussions on “Labor Mobility and Human Rights: Examining Migrant Labor Governance in the Middle East in the Context of Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)” on 11 March 2021, the second day of the regional review of the implementation of the GCM conducted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola, who was elected as Chair of UNESCAP’s Asia-Pacific Regional Review of the Implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration from 10-12 March 2021 in Bangkok, delivered the Philippine statement during the discussions.  Arriola related how the problems of overseas Filipino workers— such as the confiscation of their passports by their employers and the lack of labor mobility mainly for those in doing domestic work— had to be addressed in the negotiations leading to the international adoption of the GCM in December 2018.

“Throughout the negotiations, the Philippines lobbied for the inclusion of the following provisions: first, fair and ethical recruitment that allow migrants to change employers and modify the conditions or length of their stay with their employers; second, decent work and respect for international human rights; and third, measures prohibiting the confiscation of travel documents of migrants. Today, we have these three principles codified under Objective 6, Section 22, paragraphs (g) and (h) of the GCM, thanks to our traditional and non-traditional partnerships we created during the negotiations,” said Undersecretary Arriola as she began the discussions.

The second speaker of the event was Mr. Ausamah Alabsi, former CEO of the Labor Market Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of Bahrain, who recounted the Philippines’ partnership with Bahrain to institute reforms towards better labor mobility for Filipino migrant workers, exemplified by the flexi-visa system made available to irregular OFWs allowing them to be documented independent workers without their visas being tied to a specific Bahraini employer.

Since the adoption of the GCM in 2018, the Philippines through the Department of Foreign Affairs continued its advocacy for better migration governance policies especially leading to positive developments on labor mobility not only in Bahrain, but also in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“Another welcome development is the roll out of labor reform initiatives by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 14, 2021. These reforms will finally ease restrictions on labor mobility of migrant workers and will allow migrant workers to change sponsors after finishing their contract… We thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for taking these steps forward in their migration governance. This will definitely benefit our more than 800,000 Filipino migrants in the Kingdom,” continued Undersecretary Arriola.

Ms. Kristin Dadey, Chief of Mission of International Organization for Migration-Philippines, who was panelist during the event commended the transformative leadership of the Philippines in migration and development, which has provided greater labor mobility for Filipino migrant workers especially in the Middle East.  IOM Philippines likewise commended the Kingdom of Bahrain for its openness to reforms to benefit not only the foreign workers in the Kingdom but also its business sector.

To further highlight the Philippines’ leadership in international migration and development, the Philippine Government recently announced its nomination of DFA Undersecretary Arriola for the position of Deputy Director General for Management and Reform of the International Organization for Migration headquarters in Geneva.  President Rodrigo Roa Duterte previously conferred the Grand Cross (Gawad Mabini, Dakilang Kamanong) on Arriola in June 2019 for her invaluable contribution to the country during the GCM negotiations and its eventual overwhelming adoption by 164 countries in December 2018 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

The side event on “Labor Mobility and Human Rights” was organized by the DFA, UNESCAP and the IOM Regional Offices Asia Pacific, Middle East & North Africa, and moderated by Assistant Secretary Enrico Fos of DFA’s Office of Migrant Workers’ Affairs, together with Regional Director Maria Nenette Motus of IOM-Asia Pacific.  Other panelists in the event included Mr. Mohamed El Zarkani, Chief of Mission of IOM-Bahrain and Mr. William Gois, Regional Coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia. END