ASEAN senior labor officials convene to further protect, promote migrant workers' rights

PHNOM PENH, May 4 (Xinhua) -- ASEAN Committee on Migrant Workers (ACMW) convened the 5th meeting here Friday, calling for protecting and promoting migrant workers' rights as declared by the 10-state bloc.

Speaking as the chairman of ACMW this year, Chap Rithy, the under-secretary at Cambodia's Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, appealed the ASEAN states to find proper means to protect the vulnerable groups of children and women who are facing trafficking, drug abusing, and exploitation during their migration for jobs.

"Currently, migration for work is a main global issue which affects nearly all the countries in the world," Chap said, " Migration for work usually encounters many obstacles, particularly women and children."

Chap added that the free movement of workforce among ASEAN nations will help utilize human resource maximally, which will facilitate the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015, typically in the labor intensive industries.

For protecting and promoting migrant workers' rights, ASEAN leaders issued a joint declaration in 2007 in the Philippines, which defined the obligation of both sending and receiving countries.

One year later, the ASEAN Committee on Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers was established. So far, the committee has had met for five times.

As the chair of ASEAN this year, Cambodia will host the 22nd ASEAN Labor Ministerial Meeting and other related meetings from May 4-11.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.