UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants | HK-based advocate reminds world leaders of worker plight

Eni Lestari

Hong Kong-based Indonesian domestic worker, Eni Lestari, took the stage at the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants in New York yesterday to remind world leaders of the plight faced by many migrant workers worldwide.
During her speech, Lestari highlighted some of the difficulties that migrant workers face in their host countries, describing them as nightmarish.
Speaking as a migrant worker herself, Lestari said: “Like many others, I did not have the choice but to work abroad in a foreign country [so that I could help my family].”
“But like many others, I found that the choice of a better future is a lie,” she decried, “we migrants are denied the future […] that we imagined when we arrived [in our host country]. Our dream has become a nightmare.”
Lestari also pointed out what she regards as paradoxes in the treatment of migrant workers by the host society, which involve the widespread suspicion of them and a general lack of respect from the country’s nationals.
“We expect protection and services [like nationals], but we are left alone; […] we are perceived as a security threat yet we [are part of] an industry that generates billions,” she said, pleading for migrant workers to be “seen and heard, not marginalized and excluded.”
Migrant workers account for some 150 million people worldwide, according to the International Labour Organization, accounting for more than 60 percent of the global migrant population.
Lestari, who argues that migrants are often overlooked by state and local governments, wants these workers to be included in policymaking on a regional, national and international level.
“I don’t expect that I will change the whole situation of migrants with a three-minute speech,” she told the Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong. “But I hope it will remind world leaders about the reality that migrant workers face on the ground and that they should involve migrant workers when they make policies.”
However, yesterday’s summit saw world leaders and foreign ministers from 193 countries approve a document aimed at providing a more humane and coordinated response to the refugee crisis.
The 22-page “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants,” is not legally binding and lacks concrete commitments but calls on countries to protect refugees’ human rights, boost humanitarian aid and increase resettlement of refugees.

The UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants

According to the website of yesterday’s one-day summit, the gathering “is a historic opportunity to come up with a blueprint for a better international response [to migrant workers]. It is a watershed moment to strengthen governance of international migration and a unique opportunity for creating a more responsible, predictable system for responding to large movements of refugees and migrants.”
The summit will be composed of several plenary sessions and six roundtables discussing topics such as the root causes of large movements of refugees, vulnerabilities of migrants traveling from their place of origin to countries of arrival, and international cooperation for the protection of displaced people.
Eni Lestari arrived in Hong Kong back in 2000 after the Asian financial crisis struck. Today she chairs the International Migrants Alliance – a grouping of grassroots organizations consisting of migrants, refugees and displaced peoples. The entity claims to be the first ever global alliance of migrants, refugees, displaced peoples and their families.
In Hong Kong, she is known for campaigning for equal rights for migrants and for advocating greater protection against exploitative employers. Lestari also wants regulations drawn up on the working hours of migrants and a minimum wage increase from HKD4,210 per month to HKD5,000.
The community leader says that, since she first arrived in Hong Kong, the working conditions of domestic helpers have marginally improved, but there is still a lot more work to be done.
A Justice Center survey earlier this year found that at least one in six such workers in Hong Kong are subject to forced labor, working an average of over 70 hours per week.  The problem is far less prevalent in Macau because, unlike in Hong Kong, domestic helpers in the MSAR do not usually live-in with their employers, thus reducing the prospect of exploitation.
Contrarily, Hong Kong’s Labor Law regulations stipulate that migrant workers should live in their employers’ residences.

Today’s follow-up summit to be led by Obama

More concrete progress on the issue is expected at a follow-up summit later today called by President Barack Obama, where at least 45 countries are expected to make pledges that are in line with U.S. goals of increasing humanitarian aid by USD3 billion, doubling resettlement and increasing access to education for 1 million youngsters and access to employment for another million of the displaced.
“You hear all around the world the U.N. hasn’t handled the refugee crisis. The way the U.N. will handle the refugee crisis is if all of us countries within the U.N. step up and dig deep and face those political headwinds that we all face, to do more, to give more, to take on a greater share of the resettlement challenge,” said Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Prior to the pledging summit with world leaders, Obama will host a meeting with top executives from 50 companies to discuss what the private sector can do to help address the problem, Power said.
According to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, an “unprecedented” 65.3 million people were displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of more than 5 million from a year earlier. They include 21.3 million refugees, 3.2 million asylum seekers, and 40.8 million migrants.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, refugees are people forced to flee due to armed conflict or persecution, while migrants chose to move in search of a better life. AP