A panel discussion on the Objective 12 of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), which aims to ‘strengthen certainty and predictability in migration procedures for appropriate screening, assessment and referral,’ was jointly organized by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA.), Cross-Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants(CCRM), and Civil Society Action Committee(CSAC) on 17th November, 2020. The session was moderated by Ms. Paddy Siyanga Knudsen, Migration Governance Analyst, GRFDT, and saw the participation of experts from across the world as panellists.
Process and procedures are unclear to the migrants
Mr. Stéphane Jaquemet, Director of Policy, International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), initiated the discussion by briefing about his organisation, whose main objective is identifying and facilitating access to appropriate referral procedures for the migrants. Ms.Paddy Siyanga Knudsen asked Mr. Jaquemet about their work at ICMC. Mr. Jaquemet stated that ICMC was working to ensure migrant rights, addressing their vulnerabilities with special focus on mixed migration. He was of the opinion that Objective 12 “probably is not one of the fanciest,” since many constituent elements of the Objective, like detention and access to services, are some choices made that are unavoidable. Mr. Jaquemet also pointed out that aspects of the migration procedure should be transparent and predictable for allmigrants. The government should ensure proper registration of every migrant, giving them legal identity. But this task continues to be unrealised.
“You need to have a procedure in place to do a bit of screening, profiling, and identifying people who may have particular needs”: Mr. Stéphane Jaquemet
Mr. Jaquemet also highlighted that the initial draft or Zero Draft of the GCM was found to be problematic by various governments. Despite this, in Objective 12, there are several elements whose institutionalization predates the Compact. Many governments had already made efforts to identify the vulnerabilities in migration procedure, and were initiating measures like child-sensitive procedures, gender-sensitive procedures, identifying and rescuing victims of trafficking etc. UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) had developed a document called the 10-Point Strategy in 2007, which was applied in the mixed migration situation. The idea was to enable identification of vulnerable migrants, victims of trafficking, women at risk, children at risk or disabled children, and take appropriate measures keeping in mind their special needs.
Challenges to migration mobility
Ms. Aletheia Fernandez de la Reguera, Associate Researcher, Institute of Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, shed light on the plight of migrant communities in ascertaining their right to mobility.
According to Ms. Aletheia, the primary challenge lies in the detention procedures that are growing more callous and expansive every day, particularly in some popular destination and transit countries. Ms. Aletheia pointed out that it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between the two different categories of labour migrants and forced migrants. Hence, there is a bigger challenge in terms of ensuring accountability and transparency in transit countries. The externalization of borders and discretionary use of the policies under the trained agents are other challenges to migration mobility. The gender sensitive and child sensitive procedures are still under the discretionary use of the authorities on ground. Agents can decide arbitrarily whether the person is a labour migrant or a forced migrant, and follow different procedures accordingly. Miss Aletheia Fernandez de la Reguera also highlighted the plight of women and child migrants, stating that there exists a stark gender gap in social capital or access to the information among migrants, with women staggering behind. Women migrants lack means like smart phones, which are essential in ensuring safe migration, and are exposed to sexual violence. They lack right information and fall prey to deception, sexual violence and physical abuse, which often continues in detention centres.
Ensuring accessible information
Mr. Henry Rojas, Coordinator, Lawyers Beyond Borders Network (LBB), shared his reflections on Objective 12 and its impact on migration laws and policies of origin and the destination countries, with special focus on the Philippines. He stated that it is essential to use accurate and disaggregated data to collect relevant information about immigration policies and impart them to migrants to promote the rights and welfare of the migrant workers. According to Mr Rojas, the intention of the Objective should be to make all migration related information clear and accessible to migrant workers at both countries of origin and destination.
“In Philippines, there are pre-departure orientation seminars and pre-employment seminars…these are generic information seminars and not specific to the countries where the migrant workers would actually be working”: Mr. Henry Rojas.
Recognition of migrant rights
Ms. Florida Sandanasamy, CSO Activist, Malaysia detailed the hurdles faced by migrant workers from Malaysian perspective. Malaysia is a popular receiving country with diverse groups of migrants, including documented as well as large number of undocumented migrants. Ms. Sandanasamy agreed with Mr. Stéphane Jaquemet that the migration process is highly complicated. Decision making is tricky and so is advocating for their rights through the Migrant Worker Resource Centres, due to multitude of delineations like narrowly skilled or highly skilled, or documented and undocumented. In addition, there are also refugees and asylum seekers, who lack access to even the basic social services. The complicated laws further alienate undocumented migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers from adopting legal pathways. “In the workforce, they are not recognized even when they are allowed to stay and reside in the country,” Ms. Florida Sandanasamy stated. Thus, they lack access to livelihood and social support, rendering them unable to defend themselves. There are a lot of challenges faced by an undocumented migrant in this context, which are aggravated by the conditions brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, they lack access to medical treatment. They face salary deduction and job loss, which affects their already precarious livelihood. In addition, these migrants and refugees are prone to criminalization, and are side-lined in terms of social protection. Thus, the migrant workers, especially undocumented ones, domestic labourers, and refugees took the worst hit from the pandemic. Ms. Sandanaswami concluded by calling for alternatives to detention in Malaysia, since migrant workers constitute an essential proportion of Malaysian workforce.
Implementation of Objective 12 requires more effort
Throughout the webinar, each speaker presented different perspectives related to Objective 12 and its implementation. They agreed that realisation of Objective 12 requires more efforts. Mr. Stéphane Jaquemet held that assistance of those who are in a vulnerable condition require trained staff, with mechanisms for child protection referral. Ms. Aletheia called for transparency and accountability in migration procedures, especially in transit countries. Mr. Henry Rojas insisted on the importance of information dissemination, not only among migrant workers but also among authorities. Police officers and the first contact officials must be trained to meet the special needs, giving importance to protecting the migrant rights, especially that of women and children who are victims of human trafficking. Ms. Florida Sandanasamy emphasised on transparency of proceedings among all stakeholders as well as facilitation of dialogue amongst them. To conclude, all panellists agreed that implementation of GCM Objective 12 must be a collaborative effort by all stakeholders- the governments of origin, transit and destination countries, the CSOs, and the migrant workers themselves.
Deepika Bawa Deepika has completed her post-graduation from Guru Nanak Dev university Amritsar, India.She is presently living in Kolkata, India. Her interest areas include academic research, writingarticles and Journalism. Twitter Id@Deepika56370612