The Initiative for Workers Solidarity in Asia Pacific (IWS- Asia and the Pacific) commemorates this year’s International Migrants Day (IMD) by supporting the call for unity among migrant and local workers in the Asia and the Pacific.
The IWS – Asia and the Pacific firmly believes that migration is a human right. Forced migration due to lack of jobs and livelihoods in migrants’ home countries must be abolished. Capitalists are taking advantage of migrants’ desperation for survival; luring them with false promises of better lives, only to trap them in dirty, dangerous and demeaning jobs under conditions of extreme exploitation, stripped of freedom and dignity. While sending governments are treating them as mere sources of revenues and depriving them of needed support and protection.
Migrant workers in the Asia-Pacific are subjected to discriminatory policies, denied fundamental rights, and treated as second-class citizens. Local workers are also exploited by large companies and corporations, enabled by their governments. Migrant workers are leveraged to drag down the general level of wages and threatens all workers’ rights and undermines our dignity and humanity.
Employers and their enablers in government resort to racism, scapegoating and anti-migrant rhetoric to cover up the worsening economic crisis in the Asia-Pacific— unemployment, impoverishment and severe lack of social services, to name a few—caused by their adherence to neoliberal policies. The capitalists will tell local workers that migrants are taking their jobs, when in fact, it is the capitalists who are undermining our value and seeking out cheaper sources of labour from poorer countries, which the capitalists also plunder for resources. Their propaganda against migrants is aimed to divide the workers and prevent unified actions for workers’ rights.
We support the unity of local and migrant workers across the Asia-Pacific, to achieve our common goals of obtaining our rights, benefits and security in all types of work. Together, we can build a world where both local and migrant workers are treated with the dignity and respect we deserve. We can create a future where our rights are protected, our voices are heard, and our contributions are valued. Let us stand in solidarity, support one another, and pursue our rights as working people.
