The Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) celebrates this landmark, along with migrant workers among the world’s 175 million international migrants and many advocates who waged a long ratification campaign. In the Philippines, the PMRW was among those who lobbied for the enactment of Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act or RA 8042 and the ratification of the Convention on June 7 and July 5, both in 1995. OFWs now have these two instruments to safeguard their rights.

To mark this milestone, the PMRW held a forum, “Upholding Migrants’ Rights,” on July 1, at the Bayview Park Hotel-Manila. Fr. Fabio Baggio of SMC presented the key provisions of the Migrant Workers Convention. Senator Rodolfo G. Biazon and Representative J. Apolinario Lozada, Jr., Vice-Chair and Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Senate and Congress, respectively, and Atty. Teresita Castillon-Lora of the National Labor Relations Commission talked about the significance of RA 8042 and other legislative developments (Absentee Voting Act and the Dual Citizenship Bill, among others) in support of upholding the rights of OFWs. The presentors stressed that more advocacy and lobbying are needed for the Convention to be a truly effective human rights instrument. The forum also served as an occasion to launch the PMRW primer, Mga Karapatan ng mga Migranteng Pilipino/The Rights of Filipino Migrants. The primer is part of PMRW’s continuing efforts to inform migrant workers and their families about their rights, a very basic step towards their empowerment.