Gaining protection for Indonesia’s migrant workers and their families

Date: Friday, July 12, 2019

Anis Hidayah was still a student when she picked up the newspaper one morning and read the story of a local woman who had left her young children in Indonesia to work thousands of miles away in one of the Gulf States. There she was exploited, beaten and raped by her employer. When she came home, she was treated as a social outcast and her young family was humiliated and ostracized. “That story lit a fire within me,” says Hidayah. “That could have been my mother, my family. This was one story, but there are millions of others suffering the same all over the country.”

Migrant domestic workers: Voices you need to hear

Date: Friday, June 21, 2019

Escaping poverty and earning higher income can often mean taking risks, and for women migrating into domestic work these risks are often worth taking. But many domestic workers find themselves receiving poor wages, working excessive hours, and exposed to labour and human rights violations. Hear from Bangladeshi women who, despite challenges, chose to migrate in the hopes of finding a better life for themselves and their families, and learn how we can work together to protect their human rights and dignity.

Empowering and protecting women migrant workers through improved employment contracts

Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019

“They used to give me only a piece of bread in a day. Sometimes, they didn’t give me food for two to three days. I had no weekly holidays and I had to work 18 to 21 hours a day without rest. They didn’t let me contact my family members. If I requested to call my family members, they would complain to the recruitment agency and the officer would scold me and refuse my request of going back home.” This story, from a woman migrant worker from Bangladesh, is unfortunately all too common. In pursuit of social and economic opportunities, more than three million women migrate for work from South Asia to the Middle East each year.

ASEAN launches gender-sensitive guidelines for handling women victims of trafficking

Date: Friday, January 25, 2019

Imagine you’re a police officer who has just busted a human trafficking ring. There are a dozen female victims lying on a dingy floor, crying and afraid of what comes next. What can you tell them? Knowing how to interact with a victim of human trafficking is a delicate matter that can be daunting even for experienced frontline workers. There are certain sensitivities that law enforcement...

In Thailand, high-level visit showcases the impact of empowering women on preventing human trafficking

Date: Monday, January 21, 2019

Standing on the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, in Mae Sot, Thailand, it’s hard not to be struck by the sheer number of people making their way across. Up to 10,000 people cross the bridge daily, with more making their way on boats via the river below. On Sunday, Thai officials affirmed to high-level visitors from the Embassies of Canada and Japan that a second Friendship Bridge will be completed in April this year...

EU, ILO and UN Women work to promote women migrant workers’ right to organize in workplaces and communities

Date: Friday, October 12, 2018

Guaranteeing the right to organise, collectively bargain, and join trade unions in destination countries is one of the most effective ways to prevent exploitation of women migrant workers from ASEAN, concluded the participants of the regional meeting for Promoting Women Migrant Workers’ Rights through Organizing in ASEAN. Representatives from trade unions, migrant worker organizations and civil society along with experts, development partners and the UN, joined...

EU, ILO and UN Women join hands to end violence against women migrant workers in ASEAN/Myanmar

Date: Thursday, August 30, 2018

Today, EU, ILO and UN Women are organizing a national Consultative Dialogue on women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities. The consultation will introduce the new ILO and UN Women “Safe and Fair” Programme to key partners and identify activities which could be undertaken in Myanmar building on the on-going efforts by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Settlement to promote safe and...

Officials of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand recommend steps to protect migrant workers

Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Government officials of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand have jointly recommended steps to protect the millions of migrant workers in the region from exploitation and abuse. The officials from various ministries made the recommendations at a 24-25 May consultation that also included employers, civil society and international humanitarian organizations, and United Nations agencies - UN Women, International Organization for Migration...

New programme to boost the rights of women migrant workers in Asia and the Pacific

Date: Monday, May 21, 2018

Huong Nguyen vividly recalled her narrow escape in Taiwan a few years back, when a stranger entered the house where she was employed as a domestic worker and assaulted her. “When he tried to rape me, I grabbed a pencil to fight him off and ran away,” said the 44-year-old, now back in her native Vietnam. The incident was traumatic enough, but other women migrant workers fare far worse. They experience high levels of abuse and exploitation directly linked to their vulnerable status and conditions of employment..

Empowered by training, female garment workers in Dhaka gain confidence, promotions and better futures

Date: Monday, March 26, 2018

Lata Banu could not finish school because her parents could not afford it. When her elder sister got married and moved to Dhaka, she went along and then joined Babylon Garments Limited as a quality control officer. But Ms. Banu had big dreams. "Society looks down upon people who work in the ready-made garment industry, but I proved them wrong," she said. "I worked hard and got a promotion, and now I am the Quality Control Supervisor....