CAIMUN 2015SPECPOLBackgrounderTopic B: Exploitation of Migrant Workers

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Introduction to Topic B

“As soon as the harvest is in, you’re a migrant worker. Afterwards just a bum.”

– Nunnally Johnson

The “United Nations Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families” defines migrant workers as a “person who is engaged or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in the State of which he or she is not a national.”1 This UN Convention came in 2005, when nearly a third of the world’s population constituted international migrants, which was comparable to the entire population of Brazil. Due to the relative ease of global transportation and the effects of 21st century globalization, widespread international migration has become the norm.

At the same time, migrant workers are cursed with a myriad of issues ranging from wage discrimination and physical abuse to the lack of social services and the deprivation of legal rights. Living in a foreign country strips migrant workers of their labor rights and places them in the mercy of employers.

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL), General Assembly's Fourth Committee’s mandate includes debating questions related to widespread political topics such as international labour and self-determination. Thus, the Committee has the obligation of discussing the issue of migrant labour as almost every country is involved in the issue. Despite the lack of binding character of the Committee’s resolutions, they still contain a strong appeal since they reflect the opinion of the majority of countries.

Today, there are an abundance of international laws, conventions, and treaties that protect the indivisible human rights of migrant workers, but more are neither ratified nor implemented. At the end of the day, migrant workers are poorly protected in both developed and developing countries. The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicted that the world would have around 220 million migrants,2 which this number to grow exponentially every year. The Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL) needs to find a resolution that both appeases countries providing and receiving migrant workers, and ultimate helping every migrant worker around the world to breathe a little easier the next day.

1 http://www.unesco.org/most/migration/glossary_migrants.htm

2 https://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=3217

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Timeline

1919

The International Labor Organization (ILO) was created as part of the Treaty of Versailles for the purposes of working towards global social justice through the protection of workers.

October 29th, 1919

The first International Labor Conventions are agreed upon, pertaining to unemployment, work hours, minimum age requirements, and maternity rights.

August 1942

The bracero program between the United States and Mexico is established

1945 to 1962

The aftershock of World War II causes the Commonwealth nations to receive a large influx of migrant workers from Asia and Africa

1949

The ILO Migration for Employment Convention provides free assistance and information services to migrants.

1970 to 1980

The oil crisis of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) causes widespread unemployment in Europe, as foreign workers were not necessary. Thus, nations began pursuing anti-immigration laws to ban migrant workers.

1975

The Migrant Workers Supplementary Convention was adopted by the UN to combat illegal immigration, but still emphasizes the right to a minimum degree of protection for migrants.

1979

The Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) focused on the protection of women’s rights and issues worldwide.

December 18th, 1990

The UN General Assembly adopts the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, (otherwise known as the UN Migrant Workers Convention) and has since been ratified by 46 countries and has 16 signatories. Today, the Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) now oversees the terms of the convention.

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2008

60 foreign migrants are killed and 10,000 are left homeless in an attack on migrant workers in South Africa

January 9th, 2010

1,000 migrant workers are then sent to deportation centers in Rosarno, Italy, with 53 other migrant workers injured.

May 23rd, 2012

Thousands of Israelis gather to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against African immigrants seeking labor protection in the Middle East.

Historical Analysis

The issue of migrant workers can be found starting as early as the eighteenth century, as colonialism in Africa forced many native residents to abandon their homes in search of a better pay from the Europeans.

After World War I, the International Labor Organization (ILO) was created as part of the Treaty of Versailles for the purposes of working towards global social justice through the protection of workers and “to foster peace in the global political economy.”3

Fast forward two decades, we see that the number of migrant workers and migrant immigrants have sharply increased after World War II, as opportunities in Western Europe proportionally rose. As countries recovered from the aftermath of World War II, their doors were wide open for many immigrants so that they could rebuild their domestic economies. Also, a low cost of travel, caused by rapid technological improvements, expedited the process of immigration for many migrant workers.

For instance, Gastarbeiters, or Turkish immigrants working in Germany, were one of the most prominent migrant worker groups in the post-World War II era. As Germany suffered economic losses due to the war, Gastarbeiters helped to supplement the country’s post-war demand for labour. Despite their enormous contributions to Germany’s economy, Gastarbeiters were not granted citizenship, resulting in social conflict, legal issues, and human rights loss.

3 http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_emp/@emp_ent/@led/documents/publication/wcms_108573.pdf

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Likewise, the United States implemented a bracero program with Mexico, for the importation of Mexican workers to the United States. The program was prompted by a demand for manual labour after World War II, and the program employed Mexican workers until 1964. The bilateral agreement between the United States and Mexico allowed the passage of bracero (strong arm) migrant workers for the support of the agricultural industry. The rise of the American population also pressured the bracero program to stay longer. However, the House of Representatives in 1954 decided to transfer this program to private agencies and thus removed their responsibility to protect the rights of migrant workers from Mexico.

Notable programs implemented by national governments include guest worker programs, which helped to move workers from areas with a high density of workers to areas of low worker-density. This allowed workers to leave when labour is no longer required.

In the decade of the 1970s, an economic boom in the Middle East gave the Gulf States incentives to import foreign workers from less economically sound countries nearby. As a result, the Kafala system was established, prohibiting the transport of migrant workers without guarantee of the protection of that worker’s legal rights abroad. Soon enough, organizations and countries “promised” to protect the rights of migrant workers, and the Kafala system would make them the workers’ sponsors of legal rights. This newfound addition of enormous legal power gave way for the imbalance of power between the migrant workers and the corporations. Migrant workers had their passports taken away and rights deprived by the corporations of the Gulf States. This Kafala system was much like the bracero program in the United States, where the government would give away their responsibility to protect labouring immigrants.

A decade later, the decline in oil prices resulted in a transformation of migrant worker demographics in the Middle East. Traditionally, countries swimming in oil money would easily be able to employ workers from nearby countries. However, the decline in the prosperity of the oil

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industry in the Middle East at this time also decreased the number of workers due to rising labour costs. One way the government cut labour costs was to employ Asian workers who were willing to work for low wages and repulsive working conditions. Again, these workers were not well protected and allowed the Middle Eastern countries to throw away their legal rights and liberties as migrant workers.

In the 1990s, the Middle Eastern order of migrant workers was deeply disturbed when the regional countries engaged in the Gulf War and the Iraq-Kuwait War. This region was home to many migrant workers, as the demand for labour was needed. In the end, 2 million workers were expelled from nearby countries as a result of worker displacement. The financial assets, legal rights, and migrant rights of workers were completely ignored.

Migrant worker demographics in China

In Asia, economies grew rapidly as more than 6.5 million migrant workers4 spread throughout Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. Although economic prosperity made countries happy, migrant workers also became a fundamental institution in their economies. For instance, the financial crisis of 1997 hit Asian economies the hardest, and migrant workers were relieved of their jobs, growth rates halted, and national development stopped. Migrant workers also created enormous political pressure for countries such a China, where the outskirts of large cities were filled with migrant workers. These areas were politically unstable and led many countries to construct unemployment relief schemes in order to quickly deport migrant workers who may be a threat to national security. This was because governments simply did not have the proper housing, infrastructure, and resources to care for migrant workers.

4 http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/150.html

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Current Situation

The exploitation of migrant workers exists in both nearly every country around the world. Over 600,000 foreign workers have been exploited in the Qatar alone, 5 (International Labour Organization) particularly due to the imbalance of power between the employer and the employees.

Migration patterns today also have a great effect on worldwide economic trends and policies. As an example, Chinese workers have recently moved from the rural countryside to the coastal cities in search of a brighter financial future. This has created a dual society: a poor rural China and a modern coastal China. At the same time, rich Chinese citizens have emigrated to North America and Europe in search of professional employment.

Likewise, migration from Latin America to the United States has surged. The legacy left behind by the bracero program caused a growing number of undocumented immigrants. As a result, the strengthening and militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and immigration reform have limited the number of undocumented immigrants. However, it is worthy to note that undocumented

5 http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-20211-qatar-could-add-600000-foreign-workers-in-2013/

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immigrants still constitute 11 million residents in the United States today.6 Governments such as the United States have also chosen to terminate social services and legal rights for undocumented immigrants as a backlash to this issue.

Today, the total number of migrant workers has increased over the past ten years from 150 million in 2000 to 214 million in 2010.7 (International Organization for Migration) Mind you delegates; 214 million is 3.1% of the world’s population. The reasons for migration are the same as they were two hundred years ago; a drive to leave home and attraction to a new location.

As most experts predict a rise in migrant workers over the decade, delegates are required to address the many economic and cultural issues that arise from mass migration. Both developed and developing countries are forced to make policies that address humanitarian and social issues related to international labour.

For instance, human trafficking is an issue that arises from mass migration. The UN and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”8 (United Nations)

Human trafficking is the world’s third largest illegal industry, generating more than $32 billion dollars in revenue annually,9 (dosomething.org) and the International Labour Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of labour exploitation worldwide.10 (ILO, 2012) The facilitated transportation of migrant workers and loss of legal rights makes migrant workers extremely vulnerable to this illegal industry. Also, the increased movement of global crime organizations illegally funnel migrants over borders for profit, and can force governments to expensively crack down on illegal operations. A common strategy most traffickers use is to steal travel documents and personal documents of the victims in order to subject them to forced labour.

New economic conditions have created a demand for young females, as can be seen in the 3 million female workers in Europe alone.11 These young females work in the informal sector, where governmental regulation and protection are lacking. Thus, labour rights are almost never enforced and monitored. On top of that, women’s wages are kept lower than men’s wages since

6 http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states

7 https://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=3668

8 https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

9 https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-human-trafficking

10 http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_182109/lang--en/index.htm

11 http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@gender/documents/publication/wcms_101118.pdf

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they are not seen as a primary source of income for the family. Since women have work abroad, their gender roles of also shifted to a stronger one. They have more leverage in the family since they control the household income to a greater extent. At the same time, this has produced hostility from the husbands and can be a breeding ground for domestic violence. Lastly, the issue of migrant women working abroad raises concerns for their children. Children born abroad may also become migrant workers themselves. Also, negative psychological effect on children can be seen when they live in a sub-standard environment with their parents as migrant workers.

After the events of 9/11, many countries were worried of home grown terrorism, a possible effect of migrant workers. In the United States, Americans have recently become increasingly hostile towards undocumented immigrants, and have led to governmental crackdowns on workers seeping through the holes of border patrol. Recently, the House of Representatives passed a comprehensive bill on immigration, addressing the issue of 11 million immigrants currently living in the United States without authorization from the government. This bill includes a 13-year pathway to citizenship for current undocumented migrants, and a strict set of employer sanctions discouraging the employment of illegal migrant workers.

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Faults in the enforcement of labour laws and treaties make foreign workers even more susceptible to sub-standard working environment and exploitation. An example to this claim can be seen in the United Arab Emirates, where 85% of workers are migrants.12 Although the 1980 Labour Law of the United Arab Emirates provides safety measures, financial insurance, and a multitude of other legal rights for migrant workers, the national Ministry of Labour barely acts on it and has not reported regarding its successes and failures. The government of the United Arab Emirates scarcely monitors the inhumane living conditions, long work hours, and humanitarian abuses of its migrant worker majority.

The employers easily control migrant workers unaware of their rights, by threatening them to turn them over to the migration agency or the police. With the eventual attention drawn to the 2016 Summer Olympics, employment opportunities will begin to draw more and more immigrants to the area. Thus, delegates need to have urgent mechanisms in order to combat illegal migrant activities that may occur at the global event.

Case Study: Malaysia

Malaysia has been a long-establish destination for migrant workers to escape poverty at home and to provide for their families. However, their experiences in Malaysia has included long working hours, physical and verbal abuses, hazardous working and living conditions, and substandard living spaces. These issues were all results of both agent incompetence and exploitation of migrant workers. On the agent’s side, there were gaps where legal regulations were supposed to be exercised, lies made by the agent about working conditions when truths were to be told, and the exploitation of migrant workers’ legal rights by agents as they held their official documents. The state of Malaysia has failed to exercise its power over these legal exploitations. One Vietnamese Worker stated “wages were usually paid late, a one month later. When we were completely out of money for food.” Although, Malaysia has enacted the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in 2007, the federal government is not making and has not made significant efforts to purge the widespread tradition of migrant worker exploitation in the country.13

UN Involvement

It is clear that the major international organization fighting the exploitation of migrant workers is the International Labour Organization. (ILO) Since 1920, this organization has been at the forefront of battle to protect our migrant workers. In 2005, the Millennium Development Goals were revised with an additional target of “achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and younger people.”14 (ILO, 2005)

12 http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/22/united-arab-emirates-trapped-exploited-abused

13 Amnesty International. "Amnesty International." Document. Amnesty International, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 25 Mar. 2015. 14 http://www.un.org/en/ecosoc/docs/pdfs/ecosoc_book_2006.pdf

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Another labour-focusing international body is the Migrant Rights International, (MRI) which is a non-governmental organization that includes a forum for “migrant associations, human rights, labor, religious, academic, and other organizations which operate at the local, national, regional, and international level.”15

Finally, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an organization assisting international migrants and “sees the need to use means and occasions available to stimulate awareness of the contributions migrants can and do make, the difficulties they often face, and the rights to which they are entitled as human beings.”16 (IOM Website)

On December 18, 1990, at the United Nations in New York, countries agreed to an United Nations treaty governing the protection of migrant workers and their respective families. The beginning of its implementation started on July 1, 2003 after 20 states had ratified it. As a result, the Committee on Migrant Workers, (CMW) as one of seven UN human rights bodies, now monitors the implementation of the terms listed in the convention.

The UN Convention emphasizes the human rights of migrant workers, and aims at protecting migrant workers through a moral and humane standard of procedure. With the primary goal to foster respect for the human rights of migrant workers, the convention aims at achieving equality of treatment for all workers, regardless of their nationality. Although legal migrants have more legitimacy than undocumented migrants, they still have fundamental human rights that cannot be ignored. Without adding any new human rights, the Convention reiterates basic freedoms, legal rights, and equality in the workplace. Along with these goals and attitudes, the Convention proposes the eradication of corrupt movements against the integrity of migrant workers through sanctions against traffickers and exploitative employers of foreign workers. Ratified by 46 States today, this Convention remains as the world’s most comprehensive and recent bill regarding the issue of migrant workers.

The United Nations has also declared December 18th to be International Migrants Day (IMD) for the purposes of raising awareness of the increase of migrant workers around the world.

Seeking Resolution

Although numerous conventions and treaties have sought to tackle the problem of migrant worker exploitation, it still remains an ongoing issue today. There is a huge struggle to enforce

15 http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/events/coordination/10/docs/P23.%20MRI%20&%20NNIRR.pdf

16 https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/about_iom/en/council/84/Mcinf259.pdf

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these terms listed since many countries feel they truly benefit from the global phenomenon of migrant workers. Meanwhile, many countries that send out migrant workers continue to advocate for their rights abroad.

For example, Indonesia is a major nation that provides migrant workers for countries around the world. Thus, the country strives to protect its migrant workers abroad by pressuring Middle Eastern countries to enforce standard working conditions, fair pay, and numerous other terms listed in international treaties and conventions.

On the other hand, Thailand represents a country that employs millions of migrant workers. One initiative the nation has employed is a National Verification program that allows illegal immigrants to receive temporary passports in Thailand, so that their legal rights are preserved during their tenure in the country.

In addition, the 1949 Migration for Employment Convention can be expanded upon to suit the needs of a globalized society. Workers need to have more fundamental rights listed in order to hold migrant-holding countries accountable for their actions.

Also, the international community must improve its current mechanisms for approaching international migrant workers. Although many countries have ratified numerous conventions and treaties relating to migrant workers, the implementation of the terms can be improved through regular monitoring, judicial procedures, and humanitarian relief efforts.

Sending governments need to inform migrant workers of their rights listed under international treaties and conventions. Governments can warn citizens of the dangers of working abroad as well as educating citizens on their human rights. Governments may also choose threaten receiving corporations with economic penalties for any illegal or inhumane activities. Lastly, government can choose to send monitoring organizations in order to ensure that the rights of migrant workers are respected in the receiving countries.

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As for the receiving governments, legislation can help to ensure the protection of labour rights. Also, financial incentives can be given for both migrant workers and corporations that are able to report fraudulent behavior. For example, amnesty can be given to workers who report unsanitary and sub-standard work conditions around the country. Most importantly, receiving countries are able, through their territorial sovereignty, to enforce domestic laws that can punish corporations when fraudulent behavior against migrant workers is observed.

A long-term solution to consider is the addition and growth of the domestic economies of countries sending off migrant workers. As economic incentives abroad and economic struggles at home usually force the phenomenon of migrant workers, the increase of jobs at home will encourage workers to stay at home. At the same time, many countries may criticize this option as a threat to the global economy.

Lastly, a sovereign and overseeing body may be constructed to ensure that international measures are implemented against the exploitation of migrant workers. For instance, the Committee on Migrant Workers, (CMW) as one of seven UN human rights bodies, monitors the implementation of the terms listed in the convention. An expansion of that committee into one that is more comprehensive can truly help migrant workers.

Bloc Positions

North America/Oceania

These countries have sophisticated systems of working visa applications that overseas migrants can strive for. In the case of the USA strict yearly limits have been set as to the number of guest workers that can be employed under each type of visa. Most of the time, countries sending off migrant workers are poorer and less developed nations tied to rich and industrialized countries due to the effects of globalization. Countries receiving foreign labour would want to continue having influxes of migrant workers. These countries would want to expand economic profits through cheaper employment and care. Contrary to developing countries, nations receiving migrant workers are oftentimes more industrialized and wealthy.

Europe

The EU has enacted legislation in the areas of visas, residence permits, family reunification, and illegal immigration, but EU Member States have the right to determine the number of admissions of third-country nationals in their territory for employment purposes, including temporary workers. Russia is also a frequent user of foreign worker programs, and most recently, controversy arose over the treatment of migrant workers by Russian authorities in Sochi. Human rights advocates in Sochi also told Human Rights Watch that authorities raided workplaces, homes and public places and then detained hundreds of migrant workers – who appeared to have been targeted due to their non-Slavic appearance. Countries seeking foreign labour typically wish to increase economic growth and development. As a result, these nations are generally reluctant to accept resolutions that increase cost for foreign labour as this ultimately diminishes their profits.

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Latin America / South America

Nationals from Latin America constitute a large part of the contributing worker populations, in particular throughout the USA and Canada, with the majority of the USA’s guest workers being of Mexican origin. In 2010, a massacre of 72 migrant workers in Mexico occurred. The migrant workers were kidnapped by an organized crime cartel, and when the migrants resisted smuggling drugs into the USA, they were shot. The National Human Rights Commission estimates that 1,600 migrants are kidnapped in Mexico each month.

Africa / Middle East

Several states in the Middle East are heavy employers of foreign workers, in the UAE more than 80% of the country’s eight million people in 2010 were foreigners. Development in the United Arab Emirates would have been severely halted if migrant workers were taken away or reduced. Foreign labour provides a source of cheaper employment and fills the more hazardous jobs that local workers refuse to do.

Guiding Questions

What does your country define as a migrant worker?

Should governments take it upon themselves to control migrant worker programs, as opposed to private industries organizing the programs?

What legal rights should migrant workers have?

How can the United Nations hold receiving countries and corporations accountable for the care of migrant workers?

What are some education and awareness programs that can help global actors in this issue?

How can the United Nations enhance the investigative toolkits of law enforcers and police?

How can the United Nations establish over-seeing bodies acting on the issue?

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Further Resources

Globalization 101 - Migration

http://www.globalization101.org/category/issues-in-depth/migration/

The International Labor Organization Committee

http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/lang--en/index.htm

Women and Migration

https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Femme_Migrations_Eng.pdf

Migrant Workers Alliance (Non-governmental organization)

http://www.migrantworkersalliance.org/

Labor Migration to Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

http://www.un.org/esa/population/migration/turin/Turin_Statements/ALNAJJAR.pdf

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Pages/WelcomePage.aspx

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