Aurora Javate de Dios, Executive Director
Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (Asia-Pacific), Philippines
www.catw-ap.org

Feminisation of Migration

Contemporary migration patterns differ markedly from previous migrations. While migration in the past was for permanent resettlement and integration in destination countries, present-day migration is characterised by temporary overseas employment without the family. A second distinctive characteristic of migration is the role of state in promoting overseas employment.

Governments play an active and mediating role in the migration movement today through officially sanctioned policies, programmes, and guidelines for the overseas deployment of workers. In the past, individuals, rather than governments, were the main motors of migration.

In the last 20 years, overseas migration has become a significant part of the economies of sending countries. In 1997, for instance, remittances reached US$5.7 billion in the Philippines, US$1.5 billion in Bangladesh, and US$1.2 billion in Indonesia.

A migrant worker's life is not all work -- they need friends, support and fun as well.

This source of much-needed foreign revenues has become even more important in the light of the recent Asian crisis, which has aggravated the sending the countries' problems in unemployment and under-employment. The third and most important distinction of contemporary migration is the increasingly significant numbers of women migrant workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. An important mediating agent in the whole migration process is the recruitment agencies, which have become hugely profitable and competitive businesses. Their profitability has spawned several layers of small-time operators, recruiters and other illegal elements preying on the vulnerable and often desperate women and men from rural and urban poor communities who want to try their luck abroad.

Female labour migration particularly of Asians is characterised by a concentration in gender specific types of jobs that is menial, low-paying, with poor working conditions and limited upward career opportunities.

These jobs are domestic help, factory work and entertainment. These jobs heighten women's vulnerabilities because they are often in the context of individualized service, isolated and not covered or protected by labour and other social and health policies accruing to nationals.

The migration of women migration workers is demand-driven, usually dictated by the terms and regulations set by the receiving countries. The demand is created by increasing levels of prosperity of developed economies and changing lifestyles in which women nationals leave menial and domestic work for better career opportunities.

The increasing number of women migrant workers in the last 20 years attest to the changing patterns in migratory flows but also the increasing and vital role of women in the development of their economies.

Health and Reproductive Rights Issues in Migration

Migrant women who may or may not be trafficked are also exposed to many possible health and reproductive health risks due to the following:

First, many of the migrant women workers are below 30 years old. The age factor is prescribed by the sending and receiving countries. The Philippines, for instance, sends entertainers or domestic workers as young as 18 years old. The United Arab Emirates admits workers as young as 16 and Malaysia specifies the age of domestic workers to be between 25-45 years of age. Very often, though, traffickers can easily produce fraudulent papers to falsify age requirements so younger and younger women are able to leave.

As is often the case, this are also the ages when women are single and in their prime reproductive years. Many who leave as migrant workers are married with families and children but their harsh working conditions, isolation and loneliness predispose them to enter into adventurous intimate relationships without any protection.

Women face further risks because of their relatively low level of understanding of their sexuality and reproductive health. Sexual matters are things not talked about or discussed openly among women and sending countries do not highlight this information in their departure orientation.

Getting pregnant or contracting AIDS are farthest in their minds when they set off to go to work abroad. Health needs are generally the lowest in the priority list of most migrant workers because foremost in their minds is to earn money to send back home.

Unless otherwise stated in their contracts, health benefits are not generally extended to migrant workers who are not covered by labour or social policies by governments. In any event, the accessibility of health care services maybe even restrictive to migrants in general.

Language and cultural barriers not to mention prohibitive fees may also play a role in inhibiting access to health care. The absence of family and social support networks on health compound the helplessness of women while working overseas.

If regular migrant women workers have difficulty in accessing health care services and information, one can imagine the desperate situation of women trafficked for all kinds of purposes. Women who are trapped in detention and bondage by traffickers such as those in brothels have been effectively rendered desaparecidos and their violation and their deprivation is practically total.

Policies and Practices in Receiving Countries that Impact on Health and Well-being of Women Migrants

Some policies and practices in the receiving countries compound the obstacles faced by migrant women in general and migrant who are undocumented or trafficked. Some of these practices are officially sanctioned, some are practices at the employer level. The overall effect of these taken together increases the vulnerability and potential for abuse of women migrants.

In almost all of the countries of destination in Asia like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and other countries of destination, employers confiscate the passport and working visas of their domestic helpers and/or entertainers. This immediately deprives the women of mobility including during emergency cases involving their health to seek immediate assistance because of the absence of their legal papers. Without their papers, women migrant workers are at the mercy of their employers who can threaten to dismiss them at the slightest infraction.

In other countries such as Singapore, the state promulgated a policy of requiring female migrant workers to take a standard pregnancy test every six months. (Abrera Mangahas, 1997)

This is to discourage migrant women from having relations with anyone during their stay in Singapore, which could lead to pregnancy. Not only is this policy intrusive and a violation of the women's rights to privacy but the policy has racial undertones. In cases where migrant or trafficked women become pregnant by whatever means including rape by the employer, it is the women not the perpetrators who are penalised through deportation under this policy.

Contract substitution is an unwritten practice in many receiving countries where migrant women are paid less than the salary rates promised them in their official work contracts. This leads to the women scrimping on their personal needs including medication and health requirements just to be able to send more money back home.

In Japan, many bar owners and employers require women entertainers to have sex with customers in violation of officially agreed terms and conditions. Those who have been found to be pregnant are not given assistance and are immediately fired. In a study conducted by IOM, of the 1,000 respondents, 18% said they were forced to have sex with customers without the use of condoms. (IOM, 1997) Moreover, it is standard practice for employers and recruitment agents to farm out the women from one place to another again in violation of their contracts. In the process of this movement and transfer women lose all sense of control over the terms and conditions of her work and becomes totally dependent on her employers. The language barrier and ignorance of existing labour laws pose serious problems in negotiating for better working conditions. Criminal syndicates such as the Yakuza often control the entertainment establishments and their presence poses and constant threat to entertainers who might want to escape harsh working conditions. Housed in closely guarded "mansions" these entertainers are often not given enough food allowance and almost always no medical allowance. They often end up self-medicating themselves in cases of illnesses (Interviews with Filipino women entertainers, July-August 1999)

In the Middle East, domestic workers who run away from cruel treatment or attempted rape by their employers are immediately deported regardless of whether they were guilty or not. There are currently 300 workers in Malaysia according to Tenaganita, majority of them are Filipina domestic helpers who have been jailed for various offenses. The danger of sexual abuse in detention is very real with a number eventually becoming pregnant.

Many receiving countries such as Malaysia and Thailand conduct mandatory AIDS testing. Those who are found to be positive for HIV are immediately deported without any assistance. In the case of women and children who were trafficked and sold to brothels, humanitarian assistance is not even extended. Two thousand Nepali women and girls who have HIV positive after having been forced to work in the brothels in India were immediately sent back to Nepal where the government refused to acknowledge them as Nepali citizens due to their health conditions. (CATW, 1997 reports)

Ensuring Core Human Rights of Women Migrants and Women who are Trafficked: Interventions, Experiences and Challenges

Perhaps the greatest irony of this century has been the dramatic improvement of human rights standards alongside the persistence of practices and behavior by state and non-state actors that dehumanize human beings. Nowhere is this more profoundly illustrated than in the trade of human misery, which is trafficking. Yet, recognition of the horrible human rights violations and abuses that occur in almost all parts of the world has already lead to many dramatic changes and initiatives dealing with the problem. No longer is the issue regarded as isolated, temporary and unimportant but as structurally imbedded in cultures, systems and economies that devalue women and children as human beings.

Among the most interesting and life-changing initiatives are the survivor-centred programmes which women in prostitution who had been trafficked have initiated through the assistance of women NGOs. From their voices we have an authoritative picture of the operations of syndicates, pimps and recruiting agencies where trafficking of women and girls, along with the smuggling of drugs and guns, a most lucrative business proposition. The critical voices of the survivors enables many psychologists and social scientists to fully understand the complexities of the harm of prostitution particularly in the context of violent environments where the sex industry usually thrives. From three researches have emerged intervention programmes geared towards prevention, crisis intervention and reintegration of victims. The most significant of these are the wholistic survivor programmes, which combine immediate health, counseling, and legal assistance. The SAGE programme is San Francisco includes peer counseling session, drug rehabilitation, economic livelihood programmes, housing and legal interventions.

On the preventive side both governments and NGOs agree that the best antidote to victimisation and vulnerability of women and children is to invest in their long term education as well as economic and political empowerment. Educating women, children and communities about the issues of equality and of the rights of women goes a long way in building confidence, ownership and assertiveness in claiming their rights under the law. Under this category are human rights groups, and women NGOs where human rights is a central part of the agenda. Information campaigns on the modus operandi of traffickers and recruiters also reduce the vulnerability of the uninformed. Creative street theatre presentations, which have been done in such areas as Nepal, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, stimulated communities to establish Traffic Watch groups in the communities (De Dios, 1999) In the Philippines, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, community based campaigns have been sustained through partnerships with local organizations and communities with the participation of survivors (CATW, Community Based Prevention Programmes)

Legislative advocacy for the passage of anti-trafficking laws that are not punitive to women and children but strongly penalize the recruiters, traffickers, pimps and male buyers of sex. Such laws must always have the resources and adequate mechanisms to enforce and punish offenders as well as to provide adequate support mechanisms for the immediate health, psychological and economic assistance to victims and survivors. In Asia, several countries, like Thailand, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, India have passed or about to pass anti-trafficking laws. The US is currently considering three bills to address trafficking. National legislation no matter how effective can only address part of the problem. Bilateral and multilateral arrangements including conventions and agreements need to be explored urgently, as trafficking is a crime that is transacted across national boundaries. The Coalition has proposed a Convention Against Sexual Exploitation even as it calls for the strengthening of the 1949 Convention Against the Trafficking of Persons and the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others which to date is the only convention addressing trafficking. The Fulfillment of state obligations under the different human rights conventions such ass ICCPR, CEDAW, ICESR are key to the prevention of trafficking.

A legislative and international human rights framework against trafficking must be accompanied by measures to develop a core of committed public officials including law enforcement agencies at the national and regional level who are sensitive, informed and committed to eradicating trafficking in women. Governments systems and procedures must be such at they can prevent potential victimisation often emanating from the bureaucratic procedures themselves. Trafficking victims must be given fast, immediate and caring service to assist their healing and recovery.

The most critical time of intervention is during the crisis and emergency periods where trafficking victims are rescued. Receiving countries often restrictive in allowing illegal migrants to stay must acknowledge that trafficking victims are illegal migrants whose rights have been violated. As such, they must not aggravate her condition, deporting her and treating her as a criminal. Criminal and judicial procedures must at all times be sensitive to further victimising the victims. Temporary residence visas with the possibility of economic support must be given to ensure that victims can testify against their tormentors. Witness protection programmes must ensure maximum security of victims from criminal and syndicate backlash.

Governments must be held accountable in promoting, protecting and ensuring the human rights of all women and especially when these are so clearly violated as in the case of trafficking. There are various human rights violations that are simultaneously committed against women and children foremost of which are their right to life and security of persons, the right to be free from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, the right to the protection of the law; the right to mobility as well as travel and the right to the highest attainable standard of health are but a few. Nafis Sadik in her statement last April in Bangkok on irregular migration called on governments to protect and ensure the protection of the human rights and dignity of migrants including illegal migrants and those trafficked and to provide basic health and social services. Emergency medical procedures and health care must be made available in crisis situations to ensure that women are assisted in their health needs.

( An integrated list of demands developed by survivors of prostitution and trafficking in the Philippines recommended critical areas of health interventions: ( That guidelines for a gender sensitive operation of health services be consulted with concerned NGOs, and strictly implemented; ( That social hygiene clinics be discreet and shielded from public view; ( That quality services particularly with regard to HIV/STDs be made voluntary, safe, accessible and free of charge; ( That privacy and medical confidentiality be observed; ( That monitoring, surveillance and treatment of incidence of violence against women in the entertainment industry be integrated into the work of the Department of Health Violence Against Women Programme; ( That forms and content of health education and counseling be properly contextualized in a gendered framework; ( That a programme that encompasses the total health care of women, men and families,including a health programme for drug and alcohol abuse be developed and implemented.

The big challenge for us in the long term is to raise the hard questions. How long can society afford to lose generations of women and now young children to trafficking and prostitution systems? Why are we problematising the women and not looking at the patriarchal basis of the sale of women and children's bodies? Why are not questioning male prerogatives to purchase sexual services? Why do men buy women in prostitution? Some of these questions have been the subject of breakthrough researches such as those conducted by the Asia Japan Women's Resource Center. (Women's Asia, Sept. 1999) Related to this would be a question on how are we socialising boys and girls about their sexuality, about the value of human relationships beyond that which can be bought by money. Until we come close to addressing these issues, the problem of trafficking will be with us for a long time.

(Excerpts from a paper prepared by Aurora Javate-de Dios for the Asia-Pacific Conference on Reproductive Health in Manila in mid-February 2001. The paper was distributed during the seminar 'On the Philippine Migration Trail: Migration and Reproductive Health', Bangkok, Feb 2001.)