ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the

Rights of Women and Children (ACWC)

26 May 2022

ASEAN Workshops on Women and Children in the Context of Migration

Workshop 3: Implementing the Global Compact for Migration

for Women and Children in the ASEAN Region
Session 3 – Way Forward

SARAH LOU Y. ARRIOLA

Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs
Republic of the Philippines
Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)

• First inter-governmentally negotiated, multilateral, non-binding instrument that addresses

issues on migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner, which includes 2 guiding
principles: gender-responsive and child-sensitive

Initiatives from the Philippines

• Among the GCM Champion Countries in the ASEAN region together
with Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand
• Chaired the Asia-Pacific regional review of the implementation of
the GCM and has since been participating in regional dialogues to
advance GCM implementation in the Asia-Pacific region
• Actively participated in the International Migration Review Forum
last 16-20 May 2022
 Women and Children in Migration
• While contributions of women migrants have developed over time, they are still prone to the
inherent challenges brought by the historically unequal gender power relations.
• Children on the move should also be afforded strengthened protection especially those who
are unaccompanied or separated and have become victims of trafficking, among others.

For the Philippines

• Around 56 percent of overseas Filipino workers are women
• Among Filipino migrant workers, women constitute the biggest number employed for
domestic work, nursing, and au pairs.
• They can experience violence and abuse, most often at the mercy of their male
employers or foreigner husbands.
• Filipino women migrants with families usually live with their children and in effect,
these children are subjected to the same conditions under the same household.
Philippine Government’s Protection for Women and Children Migrants

Adoption of international conventions

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
Enactment of domestic laws and policies
• Department of Migrant Workers Act (Republic Act No. 11641)
• Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act (RA 8042 as amended by RA 10022)
• Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710)
• Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act (RA 7610)
• Updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 Chapter 21: Protecting the Rights, Promoting
the Welfare, and Expanding Opportunities for Overseas Filipinos
Special Case: Addressing Trafficking of Overseas Filipinos
2 Filipino Trafficking Survivors from Bahrain
- Survived sexual exploitation committed by fellow Filipinos and
foreign nationals in Bahrain
- Both gave their statements in PH, and suspects were later
apprehended, prosecuted, and convicted in Bahrain
- Pursued even without a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty
between the Philippines and Bahrain
Trafficked Filipino Women in Syria
- All undocumented workers who ran away from their employers
and were eventually sheltered at and assisted by the Philippine
Embassy in Damascus
- They received an unprecedented win for the first human
trafficking case filed before the Damascus Court, a landmark
judicial victory awarded by a Syrian Court in favor of Filipinos
Special Case: Safe and Fair Initiative in the ASEAN Region

Safe and Fair: Realizing Women Migrant Workers’ Rights and Opportunities in
the ASEAN Region Program
- The project is part of the EU-UN global, multi-year Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence
against women and girls, to ensure that labor migration is safe and fair for all women in
the ASEAN region.
- It is implemented in ten ASEAN countries, with three crosscutting themes: women’s voice
and agency, rights-based approaches, and broad engagement of stakeholders.
- With a focus on women overseas Filipino workers at all stages of migration, the project is
conducted in the Philippines as well as in countries of destination, in ASEAN, and in
selected migration corridors in East Asia and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Special Case: Safe and Fair Initiative in the ASEAN Region

Key Program Activities

• Pre-departure information
• Protocol for rapid response management and guidance on recruitment agent
obligations
• Policy to increase opportunities to regular and semi-skilled/skilled migration
• Integration of rights-based and survivor-centered approaches in policies and
practices
• Networks of women’s groups, organizations, labor unions and local government
agencies
• Technical assistance, capacity-building, training on data collection and analysis
• Public awareness campaigns
Special Case: Department of Migrant Workers (RA 11641)

• The law took effect on 03 February 2022, making the new Department operational not later
than 2 years after effectivity. It specifically address the issues and concerns of Filipino
migrant workers, streamlining existing migrant services into one single entity.
• With the progressive realization of the GCM’s 23 Objectives under its mandate, the GCM
will now be legally enforced in the Philippines through this law.

Migrant Workers Office

- The Department’s operating arm
overseas, whose functions include
managing cases of distressed overseas
Filipinos including trafficked women and
abandoned or neglected children
Special Case: Department of Migrant Workers (RA 11641)

Salient Provisions:

Section 15. Migrant Workers Office, functions

“…(h) Manage cases of, and provide psychosocial services to OFWs in distress, such as victims
of trafficking in persons or illegal recruitment, rape or sexual abuse, maltreatment and other
forms of physical or mental abuse and cases of abandoned or neglected children…

…(o) Ensure the protection of women migrant workers by ensuring the designation of a
gender focal point officer in its offices and in MWRCs (Migrant Workers Resource Center), and
the conduct of regular gender-sensitivity including ending-VAW (Violence Against Women)
training, and gender audits to assess responsiveness of programs and services. The gender
focal point officer shall also serve as the ending-VAW focal point officer…”
Special Case: Department of Migrant Workers (RA 11641)

Section 17. Full-Cycle National Reintegration Program

“The Department shall develop and implement a full-cycle and comprehensive national
reintegration program… The reintegration program shall include promoting access to social
protection instruments and financial services, and reintegration of survivors of VAW and
trafficking in persons…”
Way Forward
• While the initial purpose is to take stock of GCM implementation progress,
Reaping benefits
we encourage governments and stakeholders to continue similar
of GCM review
mechanisms to know what still needs to be done in promoting a gender-
platforms
responsive and child-sensitive migration for all.

Continued • A staunch partner, among others, is the IOM Regional Office based in
partnerships Bangkok, which serves as the coordinator of the Regional UN Network on
with regional Migration for Asia and the Pacific, to shed light on better protection for
offices migrant women and children in the region.

• As experienced by the Philippines, being a Champion Country is an effective

Strengthened way to initiate and maintain exchanges on migration advocacies close to our
support of States hearts and within our national priorities.
on GCM • Submitting pledges and practices to the UN Migration Network can reflect
implementation States’ shared priorities (i.e. upholding safe migration for women and
children) and can create potential partnerships with like-minded actors.
THANK YOU.