FINAL STATEMENT

Recommendations

December 18 is International Migrants Day, the day in 1990 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The commemoration takes on a special significance for the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) as it concludes the three-day World Conference of OFWs 2004: Shaping the Future of Filipino Labor Migration, held at the Bayview Park Hotel, Manila. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) provided major support for the conference.

The conference brought together 236 representatives of migrants' organizations and NGOs working for the promotion and protection of the rights of overseas Filipino workers and their families. Representatives working in 21 countries - Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, Canada, the US, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Hungary - as well as those based in the Philippines shared experiences and issues affecting Filipino migrants in their respective countries.

The conference came up with 33 recommendations addressed to the government, civil society, and migrants. The participants also issued a resolution of support for PMRW's advocacy against OWWA's Omnibus Policies which erode critical support and services for OFWs and their families.

A. To Policy Makers

1. Education and information programs

• To educate migrants and their families on their rights at all stages of migration, from pre-departure, while abroad and upon their return, maximizing the opportunities provided by the UN World Program on Human Rights Education up to 2007, with the involvement of tri-media, schools, churches, Local Government Units and NGOs.
• To provide education and information to migrants and their families on the realities of migration, values formation and financial management.
• To raise public awareness about migration realities, gender issues, health issues, and migrants' rights.
• To develop education and awareness programs on migration-related issues directed at government personnel; prosecutors and enforcement officers handling cases of illegal recruitment need specific attention.
• To enhance information campaigns on unauthorized migration and trafficking with "critical" collaboration with relevant government agencies, in accordance with the provisions of existing legislation.

2. Specific programs for OFWs

• To improve the collaboration and coordination of different agencies offering programs and services for migrant workers and their families.
• To elaborate and implement additional programs for the assistance and protection of OFWs abroad.
• To facilitate the re-integration of returning OFWs by offering favorable terms of investment, tax incentives, access to government financial institutions and other benefits that are offered to foreign investors.
• To conduct consultations with critical stake holders, especially OFWs and NGOs, toward the establishment of a reintegration fund for OFWs and their families.
• To conduct continuing education and information on Filipino culture and history for Filipino communities abroad, including foreign spouses and children of Filipino migrants and Embassy staff; a module on Filipino culture and history may also be included in Pre-Departure Orientation Seminars (PDOS).
• To involve the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in developing programs to enhance awareness of Filipino culture and history among migrants, and allocating budget and other resources for such programs.
• To promote continuing dialogue and other exchanges between Filipino migrants and nationals from host countries in understanding and appreciation of respective cultures.

3. Migrants' Participation in Nation Building

• To improve Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) as follows:
  
  • Early implementation of the system of continuing registration
  • Centralizing processing of OAV applications in Comelec-Manila
  • Reconsidering provisions on qualifications of voters, particularly immigrants
  • Expanding network of registration centers for OAV purposes by allowing pre-departure registration by other government agencies
  • Adopting voting by mail in more countries
  • Streamlining of procedures
  • Modifying registration and voting procedures for seafarers, including voting by mail
  • Automated voting and counting procedures
    
• Creating an enabling environment for migrant workers and their families, through executive and legislative reforms, to be actively involved in all levels of decision-making on migration-related programs and policies, including initiatives and me-chanisms to support the participation of Overseas Filipinos (e.g., hometown associations) in nation-building.
• Using all means and ways to inform Overseas Filipinos regarding the Dual Citizenship Law and its benefits.
• Developing policies that would encourage retention of skilled workers, for example nurses, that are critical for the country's well-being.

4. Legislation

• To prioritize the amendment of RA 8042 and strengthen the enforcement of existing laws and policies to curb illegal recruitment, unauthorized migration and trafficking.
• To negotiate for better working and living conditions/integration policies for OFWs in destination countries through bilateral agreements.

5. Monitoring

• To monitor the implementation of the Anti-Trafficking Law of 2003, paying particular attention to vulnerable types of migration, e.g., the deployment of entertainers to Japan and mail-order brides.
• To forge or strengthen the links with institutions in the host countries (governments, NGOs, churches, migrants' associations, trade unions, tri-media and academe) for a more effective and efficient monitoring of the migration process.

B. To Civil Society

1. Advocacy and transnational partnerships

• To capitalize on ASEAN as venue for multilateral cooperation in pushing for migrant rights, campaigning for the ratification of the UN Migrants' Rights Convention and ILO conventions by the countries in the region.
• To elaborate an alternative regional report for the Committee on Migrant Rights Convention.
• To foster and coordinate efforts for research and systematic documentation of both violations and good practices in the area of migration-related work.
• To request the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) to create an e-group and directory of the Conference participants for information dissemination and networking.
• To organize Filipino communities overseas to identify cultural programs that will affirm their Filipino identity.

2. Reintegration programs

• To lobby the government to implement the provisions of RA 8042 on reintegration programs, particularly:
  
  

  • To study the merits of legislative provisions and set up information centers to facilitate the registration of OFW businesses, support OFW investments, access to information, livelihood programs and other reintegration programs and services, including harnessing the contributions of returning OFWs.
  • To develop resource centers that provide information on psychosocial and health services for OFWs and their families.
  • To systematically document the problematic cases of Filipino migration.

C. To Migrants

1. As actors and advocates

• To advocate for regular and gainful employment in the Philippines.
• To prepare responsibly for migration by seeking information, dialoguing with their families, seeking out licensed recruitment agencies, and undergoing PDOS.
• To fight exploitation and abuses by filing complaints and cases, using documentation, against errant recruiters and employers, and by forming unions and organizations to represent their interests and concerns.
• To learn the language and culture of the destination country.
• To start savings as individuals and/or in groups and share information on reintegration programs among themselves and their families.

Resolution

Whereas labor migration persists and is likely to continue with its attendant problems and concerns,

Whereas as 236 representatives of OFW organizations and migrant NGOs coming from different regions of the world and the Philippines have gathered together for the World Conference of OFWs 2004: Shaping the Future of Labor Migration, held on 16-18 December, at the Bayview Park Hotel, Manila,

Whereas the protection of OFWs and their families and the accountability of the state were among the critical issues raised at the Conference,

Whereas OWWA's Omnibus Policies, enacted without consultation with OFWs, threaten to erode the welfare and benefits of OFWs, returnees and their families,

Whereas the Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW) has filed a case against OWWA questioning the Omnibus Policies and the OWWA membership fee, which is passed on to migrant workers,

The conference participants, thus, resolve to support PMRW and other migrants' groups in their efforts against these anti-migrant policies and for OWWA to be truly an institution that has the interests of OFWs, returnees and their families.