A new joint EU-UN initiative aims to help protect the labour rights of women migrant workers, children and at-risk groups in Southeast Asia, by preventing and responding to violence, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
The EU has recently provided €13 million in financial support to the UN for the new three-year PROTECT initiative, to strengthen and protect the rights of women migrant workers, children and at-risk groups in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, by promoting decent work for them.
The EU Ambassador to Thailand H.E. David Daly said, “Together with Thailand and other partner countries in the region, we will provide protection for women and children, strengthen migration governance, tackle human trafficking and migrant smuggling, as well as develop legal pathways for sustainable migration policy.”
There are 10.6 million migrants in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, of whom nearly half are women and 1.3 million are children. Migrants, especially those in low wage occupations, face labour exploitation, human trafficking, violence and harassment.
Women migrant workers are also more likely to end up in informal sectors where they are offered temporary jobs and little to no social protection. Children accompanying migrant workers face a high risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking as well as inadequate access to child protection services.
The project will be implemented by the ILO alongside the UN’s Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Children’s Fund.
The agencies will work with relevant stakeholders in four Southeast Asian countries to strengthen laws and policies, improve capacities and mechanisms to better protect target groups’ rights and increase access to information and services.
