16APPF-RES-20-Protecting-the-right-of-free-speech.pdf
16th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASIA – PACIFIC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM
21 – 24 January 2008, Auckland, New Zealand
APPF16/RES/19
(Sponsored by Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines)
THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASIA PACIFIC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM
Recalling that the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions 97, 143 and 151 established a broad legal framework for migrant protection;
Realizing that human trafficking is a serious crime which generates illegal annual profits of approximately $10 billion dollars;
Realizing the impact of globalization and its effects on the increase of international migration, and the precariousness of migrant worker conditions such as victim of traffickers, low paying and low status jobs, human rights abuses and ignored labour;
Realizing that labor migration in Asia and the Pacific is customarily directed through employment agencies, which compel migrants to pay high recruitment fees;
Acknowledging the contribution of migrant workers to the economy of both receiving and sending states and their share to the development and prosperity of the region;
Recognizing that growing economic inequality between and within countries is a major factor to explain the increase in the employment related migration which is much larger than all the other migratory movements taken together;
Noting the increase in female migration, especially in countries of Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Eastern Europe;
Expressing concern about the high figure of human beings who die trying to reach their destination by land or sea, sometimes at the hands of people smugglers;
Recognizing the responsibility of our governments to promote a culture of tolerance, understanding and equality through public education;
Further realizing that migrant workers are vulnerable to abusive working and living conditions, and even racial discrimination, due to the weaknesses in various phases of the migration system;
Deeply concerned with the abuse, violence, discrimination as well as violation of the rights of migrant workers;
RESOLVES TO: