CARAM Asia notes that many in the public and governmental sphere have started to raise questions about the link between foreign workers and the rise of certain diseases. As a regional network that works directly on the issue of health and mobility we would like to clarify our own perspective on these matters based on our own research and to argue why policies such as mandatory testing of migrant workers as a screening mechanism for employment and work permits, does more harm than good in the interest of public health. Furthermore, we would like to remind both the government and the public that unlike nationals, migrant workers are continually denied access to affordable healthcare services and are already subject to increasingly discriminatory measures that exclude them from the workplace.

(Bangkok, 18 June 2009) Civil society organizations in the region are concerned that ASEAN is about to establish a human rights body that is below international standards.  The Solidarity for Asian People’s Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TF-AHR), a network of more than 50 organizations, is apprehensive that the final draft of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the establishment of the ASEAN Human Rights body (AHRB) will result in a body that will be engaged mostly in the promotion of human rights, while lacking a mandate in protection work. The TOR is planned to be adopted by the ten Foreign Ministers in the 42nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Phuket, Thailand, in July.

As regional networks, foreign and local domestic workers associations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations and community based organisations working on issues related to migrant workers, we welcome the recent move by the Malaysian government to provide a mandatory paid day off for foreign domestic workers (FDW).As a major destination country within the region, the Malaysian government’s move to enforce a weekly paid day off for FDWs by incorporating the provision in the Employment Act by the end of this year is certainly a mark of social change.