Regional Conference on Labor Migration Management in the Process of Regional Integration
Agenda

REGISTRATION

OPENING REMARKS
Toru Tatara, Special Advisor to the Dean, ADBI
Irena Vojakova-Sollorano, Regional Representative for Southeast Asia, IOM Regional Office for Southeast Asia
Sunait Chutintaranond, Director, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University

Photo Session

SESSION 1: LABOR MIGRATION MANAGEMENT – AN OVERVIEW
Cross-border labor migration has been an increasing phenomenon all over the world. Its benefits towards sending and receiving countries could not be discounted as they ease labor shortage, support social security and welfare, and encourage skills and technology transfer. On the other hand, labor migration prompts wide range of challenges not only to the migrant workers themselves, but also to the sending and receiving countries of these migrants. Thus, managing labor migration requires significant attention at the local, national, and international levels to ensure that issues and challenges are properly addressed. There has been a lack of harmonization of policies from one country to another within the same region resulting in inconsistencies in the needs of sending and receiving countries. Given the thrust towards regional economic integration, regional structures and national instruments should be emplaced, collaborative agreements, regional initiatives, bilateral and multilateral arrangements be encouraged so as to properly manage labor migration and improve the overall migration governance within the Asian region. SESSION 1 will deal with a general overview of international labor migration, introduce basic concepts in migration management, and identify issues and challenges of labor migration as well as discuss the relationship between labor migration and economic development.

SESSION 1.1
Overview of Labor Migration and its Impact on the Global Economy

• International labor migration profile, trends and flows
• Effects of globalization on labor migration patterns
• Benefits and risks of labor migration
• The rationale and need for labor migration management

Speaker: Graeme Hugo, Director, the National Centre for Social Application of GIS, University of Adelaide, Australia

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 1.2
Labor Migration Management as a Regional Public Goods (RPG)

• Labor migration management as a regional public good
• Foundations of Labor Migration Management
• National policy development and inter-ministerial coordination
• Government to government arrangements, private sector recruitment and other alternative arrangements
• Regional dialogue and coherent policy development

Speaker: Associate Surichai Wun'gaeo, Director, Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

LUNCH BREAK

SESSION 2: LABOR MIGRATION MANAGEMENT IN THE WAKE OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN ASIA (I)
SESSION 2 will focus on the regional trends and flows of labor migration; existing bilateral and multilateral frameworks in managing labor migration in Asia; and learning from major labor sending and receiving countries in this region their experiences in labor migration management.

SESSION 2.1
Economic Integration of Asia and the Recent trend of Labor Migration

• Trends, flows and outlook of labor migration in Asia
• Labor market demand and impact of labor migration to economic development in relation to greater economic integration of the region

Speaker: Yongyuth Chalamwong, Research Director for Labour Development, Human Resources and Social Development Program, Thailand Development Research Institute, Thailand

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 2.2
Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation in Managing Labour Migration for Greater Regional Integration

• Examples of various intergovernmental labour migration agreements and management mechanisms in Asia; their strengths and challenges
• How these intergovernmental cooperation schemes enhance regional integration

Speaker: Bruno Maltoni, Program Coordinator, IOM Phnom Penn, Cambodia

3 Country presentations
15 minutes presentation on labor migration trends, policies and challenges of his/her country

• Mongolia
• Kyrgyz Republic
• Viet Nam

DINNER RECEPTION

SESSION 2: LABOR MIGRATION MANAGEMENT IN THE WAKE OF REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION IN ASIA (II)

SESSION 2.3
Managing the Labor Migration in Labor-sending Countries – policy development, current management mechanisms, challenges and lessons learnt

Presentation by two countries with experiences in labor deployment on how they developed their policies on sending their nationals for labor migration, current labor sending management mechanisms, challenges and lessons learnt in managing labor migrant outflow and return of labor migrants.

Speakers:
Thailand - Chalobon Kachonpadungkitti, Senior Labor Technical Officer, Office of Overseas Employment Administration Department, Ministry of Labour
Bangladesh – MD Shahjahan Miah, Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment

COFFEE BREAK

3 country presentations

• Indonesia
• Fiji - Presentation
• Fiji - Paper
• Tonga

SESSION 2.4
Managing the Labor Migration in Labor-receiving Countries – policy development, current management mechanisms, challenges and lessons learnt

Presentation by two countries with experiences in receiving migrant workers on how they developed their policies concerning accepting foreign workers, current foreign labor management mechanisms, challenges and lessons learnt in managing labor migrant inflows.

Speaker: Malaysia – Ahmad Badri Bin Jaafar, Director, Labour Department, Ministry of Human Resources

LUNCH BREAK

SESSION 3: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF LABOR MIGRATION (I)
While labor migration occurs largely due to economic motivations, it also carries a wide variety of social issues which should not be overlooked. Reduced or lack of economic and social rights of migrants is one of such issues, especially to those who are unskilled and/or irregular. It is important that their basic human rights are protected and they have access to social, legal and health services so that they are less susceptible to abuse, discrimination and exploitation. SESSION 3 will discuss conceptual frameworks of the rights and obligations of migrants, and how their social and health related vulnerabilities should be addressed and mitigated.

SESSION 3.1
Rights-Based Approach to Labor Migration

• Rights and obligations of all parties concerned with labor migration
• How these issues should be addressed, both within and beyond legislations.

Speaker: Sriprapha Petcharamesree, Director, Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development, Mahidol University, Thailand

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 3.2
Issues concerning irregular migration

• Types of irregular migration
• Exploitation and trafficking
• Ways to address the problem of irregular migration

Speaker: Lance Bonneau, Senior Regional Program Officer, IOM Regional Office for Southeast Asia, Thailand

Session 3.3
Mitigating Irregular Labor Migration through Cross-Border Contract Farming – Case Study of Organic Rice Contract Farming in Lao PDR

Speaker: Sununtar Setboonsarng, Senior Research Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute, Japan

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 3.4
Policies towards Social Inclusion of Migrants in the Southeast Asian region

Speaker: Myo Thant, Principal Regional Cooperation Specialist Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Asian Development Bank, Philippines

SESSION 3: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF LABOUR MIGRATION (II)

SESSION 3.5
Migration and its implication on Public Health
Additional Handout [PDF 252.4KB | 2 pages]

• How migrant's health is of public health concern of the sending, receiving countries as well as of the region
• How to improve migrants' access to basic health care services

Speaker: Nenette Motus, Regional Migration Health Advisor, IOM Regional Office for Southeast Asia

2 Country presentations

• Lao PDR
• Myanmar
• Myanmar Additional Handout [PDF 3.7 MB | 4 pages]

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 3.6
Return migration: benefiting from brain gain, minimizing social exclusion
Case studies of the positive and negative impacts of migrants who returned to their countries, challenges faced and lessons learnt.

Speakers:
India – Bhan Suraj, Director, Ministry of Labour
Sri Lanka – R.M.L. Padmini, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour Relations and Manpower
Philippines – Alejandro Astudillo Padaen, Director IV, Adjudication Office, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration

LUNCH BREAK

3 Country Presentations

• Pakistan
• Nepal
• Bhutan

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 4: GROUP WORK – MANAGING LABOUR MIGRATION IN THE PROCESS OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION

While each country has the primary responsibility for the management of migration, cooperative approaches, rather than unilateral approaches, are more likely to yield effective and enduring results in the overall management of cross-border labor migration. Cross-border cooperation on labor migration is of particular importance these days, given the increasing trend of interdependence and integration of economies within the region.

Participants get grouped according to the sub-regional economic groups; each group identifies issues related to labor migration which should be discussed in the sub-regional meetings, and examines policies and mechanisms to be developed among them.

SESSION 5: MAXIMIZING THE DEVELOPMENT ASPECT OF LABOUR MIGRATION

SESSION 5.1
Remittances in Asia: Their link to poverty eradication and development

• The impact of Remittances on labor sending countries in Asia
• Remittances as a tool for development
• Existing and possible regional and national policies that could further promote the flow and use of remittances to contribute to the socioeconomic development of labor sending countries

Speaker: Ruth Gonzaga, Acting Bank Officer VI, Central Bank of the Philippines

COFFEE BREAK

SESSION 5.2
Regional Accreditation: Mechanism for Cross-Border Mobility of TVET Graduates

• Presentation: Regional Accreditation: Mechanism for Cross Border Mobility of TVET Graduates [PDF 4.2MB | 59 pages]
• Paper: Regional Accreditation: Mechanism for Cross Border Mobility of TVET Graduates [PDF 102.4KB | 17 pages]

• Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission (APACC)
• role of international organizations: ASEAN
• how to strengthen coordination and collaboration between countries and within them on migration and development
• How to assist national and sub-national research centers to build their knowledge base, to develop innovative migration projects and to enable them to provide relevant and evidence-based answers to development policy questions

Speaker: Suresh K Dhameja, Asia Pacific Accreditation and Certification Commission

Group Presentations

Closing Ceremony