Understanding Southeast Asia

ASEAN recognizes the importance of job creation, developing the quality of the workforce and providing social security to its workers. However, migrants in many ASEAN countries experience a lack of access to regular forms of migration and are exposed to abuses in various stages of the migration process. As migrant workers increase annually, so does the probability of them experiencing abusive work conditions, mistreatment, criminalization and detention.

In his lecture, William Gois will discuss current migration trends in the ASEAN region and how ASEAN addresses the increasingly serious issue of migrant workers. Which safeguards are in place and what does ASEAN as a whole and each of its single member states need to do to guaranty workers protection, labor rights and to develop better mechanisms for legal and safe migration?

William Gois is the Regional Coordinator of the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), a regional network of migrants' organizations, NGOs, advocates, grassroots organizations and trade unions working to promote the rights and well being of migrant workers and members of their families.

With the lecture series “Understanding Southeast Asia” the Heinrich Boell Foundation offers insights into select areas of society, politics and economics in order to contribute to a better understanding of this divers region. We have invited renowned experts, largely from the region, to explain Southeast Asia’s complexities and to promote an understanding of regional dynamics as well as their global impacts.

Speaker: William Gois, Regional Coordinator of the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

Information:
Clemens Kunze, Project Manager Asia Heinrich Böll Stiftung, E-Mail: kunze@boell.de

For further background information on Southeast Asia please also visit our dossier "Understanding Southeast Asia".