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Migration and Adult Education
 

William Gois, Regional Coordinator

Migrant Forum in Asia

www.mfasia.org
 

Background

 
In Asia, migration is an existing phenomenon that cannot be escaped from. The region is divided by two opposing sides, sending and receiving countries, both creating policies and development plans which include migrant labor in the agenda.
 
Some of the biggest sending countries belong to the Asian region. The rate of increase of the migrants being sent abroad by some of the biggest sending countries in Asia continuously rises every year.  Some of these countries include Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the need for migrant labor on some of the leading and industrialized nation in the region also increases, thereby absorbing the labor force available to them.

On an off hand view, the needs of countries in the Asian region seems to respond to each other. On the sending countries perspective, excess labor and resources creates a need for the labor force to look for avenues outside the existing market. The receiving countries, in return, because of factors such as declining population, or increasing needs for production, will also look outside their meager resources, and access outside markets. These are alright, if we are just discussing factors of production and how countries resolve their labor surplus or lack thereof.

Migration is never a national issue. It crosses borders and addresses the needs of countries, and provides variety to an otherwise tedious existence. Throughout history, migration has provided different countries the colorful accounts of their culture. These and the fact that for each unique culture, the mobility of people is one of the biggest contributions to the continuous evolution of culture and change, a by-product of people’s needs for their survival.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 550 million of the people in work are living on less than a US dollar a day, while almost half the world’s 2.8 billion workers earn less than two dollars a day. In Asia some of the sending countries, the percentage of population who earn less than 2 US dollars a day is huge – Bangladesh-82.8%, India-79.9%, Pakistan-73.6%; Nepal-68.5%; Philippines-45.7%; Egypt-43.9%. (World Development Indicators, 2006.World Bank. From Social Watch Report 2006). Even a US$5 per day for domestic helpers in the Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia is sufficient to pull migrant workers, if given the opportunity. International migration is simply not an option for many, but a necessity, especially those from developing countries.

Migration has become a developmental tool, looked upon by the governments of the sending countries as a means to solve the growing demands of industries for labor. Migrant remittances, in the recent years have also shown that it contributes to the economy’s needs for foreign funds, pulling up their declining Growth National Products (GNP), thereby enabling them to tout to the public achieving a positive growth in the economy.

Yet despite these positive avenues for development, accounts of the experiences of migrant workers abroad rarely portray their situation as all good and well. Migrant labor might earn more than their local counterparts, but the fact remains, that life as a worker in a foreign land requires sacrifices, sometimes more than what the migrants bargained for. In their home countries, there seldom is a day where news of migrant abuses and violations are not featured in the news.

On the other hand, the more developed countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore needs foreign workers for their economy to operate. In the case of Singapore, the country has a high incidence of elderly in the population, requiring medical care and assistance needs migrant workers for these services, as well as needing a foreign influx of professional labor for their industries. Malaysia also faces the same dilemma, since most of their population is more or less employed in some kind of industry; the country’s population needs domestic workers to care for their children while they work. Migrant labor was seen as a solution to this dilemma.

 
Issues on Migration

Migration for employment is now seen by nearly all national authorities as a factor of the globalization processes, not only in terms of raising the returns on investment in education but also poses an advantage, in terms of technology transfer, information and trade opportunities. On the other hand, these developments brought about by globalization seemingly created a whole new different era of issues and concern, in terms of human rights and sustainability of development.

Issues on the well-being of migrant workers are on the forefront of these concerns. Because it is advantageous for migrant workers to earn abroad, they are easy prey for illegal recruiting agencies as well as trafficking. Cases of workers, in their desperation to provide for their family being forced to do jobs not stated in their contract are rampant. Victims of illegal recruitment are forced to pay exorbitant amounts of money and are subjected to an even worse way of life. Workers are sometimes forced to work illegally in a foreign country for their family’s survival. Exorbitant fees charged by recruitments agencies, also force workers to find other means of entry to work abroad. This places them in a precarious situation, where they are forced to either bend to the demands of their employers for fear of reprisals from the authorities or be deported and lose their source of income.

Sending governments, despite their efforts for protection on their migrant labor, often finds themselves at the end of a conundrum. In the Philippines for instance, the government have provided several mechanisms for migrant workers protection and have entered into agreements with receiving countries as well as ratified and continuously promotes among its peers human rights protection of migrant workers, have also implemented policies and trade agreements detrimental to the well-being of these workers. Efforts for protection are almost always overridden by the mechanism for economic progress.

Receiving governments in the same dilemma refuses to recognize the positive impact of migrant labor to their economy. Migrant labor provides the necessary workforce in sectors which will otherwise not function since most of their workforce is involved with other high-paying jobs. Crackdowns on undocumented migrant workers are a regular occurrence. Despite amnesty programs, which in some cases still put the worker in a disadvantaged position by demanding taxes from their already meager earnings, do not always work. Also, workers with legal status are vulnerable from their employers as well as recruitment agencies, because of the lack of recognition of the receiving countries to the protection mechanisms provided for by their sending government. Governments of receiving countries have very few protection mechanisms for migrant workers.

One of the most pressing issues on migration discourse today is how governments of both sending and receiving countries manage migration. It is on both side’s advantage, to recognize that migration is not a problem to be solved, but a process of education and continuous collaboration to be discussed. Countries in different regions of the world are becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent, linked by rapid flows of capital, goods, services, information and ideas. Access to knowledge has become a key determinant of competitiveness and success. (GCIM Report, 2005)


Adult Education

In the case of developing countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, the civil society has done much to promote a consciousness on the need for education and information with regard to the migration discourse. Continuous lobbying and advocacy resulted in the implementation of laws and policies intended for the promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of migrant workers. Several countries in Asia have in fact implemented and exerted efforts to address the pressing need for migrant workers protection.

In the Philippines for instance, the migrant workers protection mechanisms are relatively advanced compared to other sending countries in the region, and have provided protection to Filipino migrant workers.  In an effort to further the protection extended to its migrant workers, the government has entered into bilateral agreements with host country governments. The Philippine government has also provided trainings and seminars, in partnerships with non-government organizations for migrant workers before they leave the country. Pre-departure orientations, involving training on skills needed for their job as well as administering a consciousness on their rights as workers are part of these efforts.

Yet, it is in this context that issues on sustainability arise.  Pre-departure orientation seminars provide limited information about labor rights and protection mechanisms available in times of distress at the host country.  There is a need for education and integration of values for migrant workers to realize the necessity of savings as well as investment.

Both the government and migrant workers need to realize that education is both a process of teaching values and standards and it must be a mutual learning process. Addressing the pressing needs of migrant workers before deployment does not necessarily mean, addressing the crux of the problem. Providing migrants both in the receiving and sending country access to learning on how to manage their resources as well as training for future application would somehow lessen the need for migration in the future.

As sending countries are taking on the issue of migration, so should the receiving countries. Concern for the welfare of migrants in terms of integration should also be given focused. Host countries must learn to raise the capacity of migrant workers to relate them with the host society, learning their history and culture, adapting to and becoming productive partners in the life of society. (Mayan Villalba, “the Right to Education in the Context of Migration and Integration”, 2007)

A recent initiative of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held on 23-24 January 2008 was the “Gulf Forum on Temporary Contractual Labor”, to which civil society representatives were invited to dialogue with both sending and receiving governments the different issues around migration.  The Forum has been viewed as the first step in a series of dialogues that is likely to have a major bearing on understanding labor movement dynamics by the state and non-state parties concerned and ultimately on the protection of Asian migrant labor force deployed in the region. Accordingly, the Forum acknowledged the right of state to develop labor and migration policies, as well as the need to look into critical issues that workers face, so as to ensure protection of worker’s rights in all phases of the employment cycle.

Migrant Forum in Asia, has been invited to be among the speakers on a session which aims to discuss the framework for collaboration among countries of origin and GCC labor receiving countries. This could be considered as one of the most remarkable developments on civil society engagement with governments, involving a discussion and cooperation on both sides, starting the dialogue towards a learning process.


Opportunities for actions

Education is an important dynamic in change and progress, creating a space for the developing of relationships and devising solutions to an otherwise irrevocable margin. Migration controls alone will not be adequate to deal migration issues and concerns. The problem needs to be addressed on a broad front since it has many dimensions. (Manolo Abella, 2008)

The governance of international migration should be enhanced by improved coherence and strengthened capacity at the national level; greater consultation and cooperation between states at the regional level, and more effective dialogue and cooperation among governments and between international organizations at the global level. Such efforts must be based on a better appreciation of the close linkages that exist between international migration and development and other key policy issues, including trade, aid, state security, human security and human rights. (GCIM Report, 200)

The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), which was the outcome of the UN High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, is a good avenue to discuss bilateral and multilateral agreements on integration and adult education. The 2008 GFMD to be held in the Philippines should be an opportunity for the developed countries in the North to take a closer look at the conditions of the countries in the South, where migration has become a first option to address poverty.

Adult education to address migration issues and integration/reintegration strategies must be raised as a critical theme in the 2008 GFMD. It should discuss bilateral partnerships between adult education agencies in North and reintegration programs in the South by all migration actors, government, civil society, private sector and the academe. (Mayan Villalba, “the Right to Education in the Context of Migration and Integration”, 2007)

The presence of international civil society networks enabling migrant workers to receive the benefits of adult education in both sending and receiving countries should also be noted. It is in the interest of both sending and receiving governments to recognize that capacity-building of migrant workers is advantage on both sides.

A challenge to development in this globalized world is not on the quantity of factors of production, but recognizing the need for building relationships, and starting a process of learning, structural adjustments and coherence on policies both transparent to the governments and workers. 

The road to development should be regarded as a shared responsibility with countries of origin and destination, therefore acting as equal partners in protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers.

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