Chants

We are workers, we are not slaves

Yes to inclusion, No to discrimination

The migrants United, We will never be defeated

Why fight back?

Dear my wonderful feminists,

We witness a type of forced migration of people that has become an inevitable consequence of the era of imperialism. Because for the global elites, migrants are treated as commodity and cheap labour for superprofits of corporations and governments. The number of temporary migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people continues to increase due to the plunder of land and resources, low wage and labour flexibilization, militarism, war like what is happening in Gaza and political conflicts, climate crisis and so forth.

Asia Pacific region is the origin of 83 million migrants. They work inside and outside the region for basic and medium skills such as domestic work, caregiver, construction, entertainment, manufacturing and textile, fishing and others. These are the kinds of jobs that most locals do not want to do and are considered as ‘3D’ which means ‘dirty, difficult, and dangerous’. In addition to this, this region is also a destination of 42 million international migrants and nearly 5 million refugees. The number of new disaster-induced displacements has also reached 21.3 million and they migrate inside or outside their respective countries for a new home.

Today, I will focus my sharing on the labour migration especially of women migrants.

We continue to face great structural challenges that exploit and marginalise women migrants. Those discriminatory treatments are manifested in the form of exclusion from labour protection, no working hours, no regulation on decent food and accommodation, live-in mandatory, no right to union, temporary visa arrangement, arrest and deportation, imprisonment, accidents and death and so forth.

As women migrants, we must accept the reality that every time imperialism experiences a worsening crisis, our working and living conditions also worsen. We have come to realise that our conditions of underpaid, temporariness, informalization of our employment, no job security and protection, and even deportation is a scheme to extract super profits from us. Migrant workers are also pitted against local workers to prevent us – the working class – from uniting ourselves and fighting together.

Yet, despite the gross human rights violations, health threats and wars, our home governments like Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangladesh continue their program of exporting migrant labour abroad. They use the migrants to earn revenue and remittances to subsidise the so-called development projects and to repay  foreign loans. They earn so much money and yet they abandon their nationals in need.

The women migrants are left alone with no protection and no one to protect us, except ourselves.

What are our dreams?

We want to go home, reunite with our families, live in peace and sustainable living. We want to see an end to the plunder of our lands and resources, exploitation and militarization against our people, and less worry about the future generations. But we know this is a long-term struggle against the very enemy of the people – which is imperialism itself. It would require persistent organisation and dedication to raise awareness of our women migrants, to make them understand who is the real enemy and what has to be done to change conditions.

Meanwhile, we have no choice but to work abroad so we can continue supporting our families back home. We want recognition and protection of our work as decent work. We want all governments to ratify C189 and C190, include us in the labour laws and other legal protection, provide standard employment contract, ensure access to justice, allow live-out as an option, allow changes of employers and employment, right to permanent residency, stop collection of fees, create more fund and services for women migrants, stop any forms of discrimination and stigmatisation from governments, political parties, agencies and employers.

How do we do it?

Our fight against imperialism does not start from scratch. There were people’s liberation movements against colonisation and imperialism in our history that we – women migrants – must study and learn from. There are also existing movements from various sectors and countries that women migrants must connect and unite against imperialism. Women migrants must acknowledge that we cannot fight alone. Our history in the migrant worker’s movement proves that our strength relies on unity among us and solidarity with others to defend ourselves.

Women migrants have no other choice but to organise as a way forward. To organise, we need to update ourselves regarding the migration policies and policy changes that impact women migrants. This is why we spend every Sunday which is our holiday – sometimes even weekdays – with the women migrants community.

We listen, learn and discuss collectively on issues that we must respond to and actions that must be done. In every situation, even if it’s very critical such as a pandemic, we make sure that we always listen to the aspirations of the women migrants.

One of the key roles as leaders is to provide political education linking the reality of migrant workers with neoliberalism and capitalism. The type of activities and programs must also consider the particular conditions of women migrants such as rest days, working hours, time of communication, interests and hobbies, and political readiness to be a leader. We also work in partnership with local supporters and institutions to provide various types of services needed by women migrants including medical checks, relaxation, relief, translation, skill training and others.

Our victories

To implement the general principle of arousing, organising and mobilising is one of the challenges when it comes to the women migrants movement. This is due to the particular reality of being overseas, temporary, isolated, stigmatised, unprotected and scattered. This will require in-depth investigation and formulate a particular approach from one country to another country even within Asia Pacific.

Given limited time, capacity and resources, we have strived to build our movement of women migrants and have achieved many victores. Our current movement itself is a testament to our victory.

The increased capacity and intergenerational leadership that we are able to develop among temporary women migrants, and our flexibility to adapt to any new situations, are other victories.

We counter the myths that women migrants are uneducated, backward and difficult to be organised. We prove otherwise. Women migrants are ready to fight. What they need is enabling support to give them an opportunity to lead.

Women migrants in Asia are more connected now with the help of technology. They learn from each other about how to organise and share knowledge. More women migrants dare to speak up and file complaints. We continue organising our mass actions in various forms with the objectives of educating the public and training new leaders.

Despite the shrink of political space in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia, women migrants are able to advance their rights and struggles such as: 1) Annual wage increase for women migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, and

2) Labour insurance protection, reduction of contract renewal fees, removal of mandatory exit, allowing direct hiring and maternity protection for women migrants in Taiwan.

However, with the worsening multiple crises and threats of war, we face greater challenges. Under neoliberal globalisation, women migrants, migrant workers, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless people are the people who are stripped off from our political, economic and social cultural rights. And we must address these challenges collectively.

We are workers, we are not slaves

Yes to inclusion, No to discrimination

The migrants United, We will never be defeated

中文版

演講：為了認可、權利、尊嚴和正義：
女性移工站出來、組織、反擊！

作者：Sring

口號

我們是工人，我們不是奴隸


支持包容，拒絕歧視


移工團結，我們永不會被打敗

為甚麼要反擊？

我們衷心感謝亞太婦女與法律發展論壇（APWLD）提供的平台，讓我們能夠在第四屆亞太女性主義論壇（4th Asia Pacific Feminist Forum）中，分享亞太地區女性移工所面臨的處境、掙扎、勝利和挑戰。

親愛的女性主義者們，

我們見證著帝國主義時代所帶來的必然後果——強制移民。對於全球精英而言，移民被視為商品和廉價勞動力，用來為企業和政府獲取超額利潤。由於土地和資源的掠奪、低工資和勞工彈性化、軍國主義、戰爭如加沙正在發生，以及政治衝突、氣候危機等因素，短期移民、尋求庇護者、難民和無國籍人數持續增加。

亞太地區是8300萬移民的來源地。他們在該地區內外從事基本和中等技能的工作，如家政服務、護理、建築、娛樂、製造和紡織、漁業等。這些工作是大多數當地人不願意從事的，被視為骯髒、困難和危險（3D）的工作。除此之外，該地區還有4200萬國際移民和近500萬難民。一些新災難所引發的流離失所人數也達到2130萬，他們在各自的國內或國外尋找新的家園。

今天，我的分享主要集中在勞工移民，尤其是女性移工之上。我們持續面臨著嚴重的結構性挑戰，剝削和邊緣化女性移工。這些歧視性待遇表現為缺乏勞動保護、沒有確定的工作時間、沒有合適的飲食和住宿、強制住家、沒有工會權利、臨時簽證安排、逮捕和驅逐、監禁、事故和死亡等。

作為女性移工，我們必須接受這樣的現實：每當帝國主義經歷一個更糟糕的危機時，我們的工作和生活條件也會惡化。我們意識到，低工資、臨時性、非正式化的就業、缺乏工作保障和保護，甚至被驅逐，這一切都是從我們身上榨取更高利潤的陰謀。移工還被置於與本地工人敵對的位置，以防所有的工人階級團結起來，共同爭取權益。

儘管帶來嚴重的人權侵犯、健康威脅和戰爭，我們的祖國政府，如印尼、菲律賓和孟加拉，仍然繼續推行出口移工的計劃。他們利用移工來獲取收入和匯款，以補貼所謂的發展項目和償還外國貸款。他們收取高額費用，卻拋棄需要幫助的國民。

而女性移工沒有得到任何保護，唯一會保護我們的只有我們自己。

我們的夢想是甚麼？

我們希望回家，與家人團聚，過上和平和可持續的生活。我們希望我們的土地和資源不再被掠奪，不再受到剝削和軍事化的侵害，對未來的世代少一些擔憂。但我們知道，這是一場針對人民公敵——即帝國主義的長期鬥爭。這需要持續的組織和致力，以提升女性移工的意識，使她們理解誰是真正的敵人，以及改變現狀的必要行動。

同時，我們也沒有選擇，只能在國外工作，以繼續支持在故鄉的家庭。我們希望我們的工作可以被視為體面的，並得到認可和保護。我們希望所有政府批准C189和C190，將我們納入勞動法和其他法律保護中，提供標準的僱傭合約，確保獲得司法正義的途徑，允許選擇住外，允許更換僱主和工作，擁有永久居留權，停止收取費用，為女性移工提供更多的資金和服務，停止政府、政黨、機構和僱主對我們任何形式的歧視和污名化。

我們如何做到這一點？

我們對抗帝國主義的鬥爭不是從零開始的。在我們的歷史中，曾經有人民解放運動抵抗殖民和帝國主義，這是我們——女性移工——必須學習和借鑒的。也有來自各個領域和國家的現有運動，女性移工必須連結並團結起來，對抗帝國主義。女性移工必須認識到，我們不能單獨作戰。我們在移工運動中的歷史證明，我們的力量賴於我們的合一和與他人的團結，以捍衛自己。

女性移工別無選擇，只能組織起來前進。為此，我們需要了解影響女性移工的政策及政策的變化。為此，我們每個星期天——即是假日，有時甚至是工作日，都會在女性移工社群度過。

我們傾聽、學習並共同討論我們必須應對的問題和採取的行動。無論甚麼情況，即使是如疫情期間那麼嚴峻，我們也確保始終聆聽女性移工的心聲。

領導者的一個關鍵角色是提供政治教育，將移工的現實處境與新自由主義和資本主義聯繫起來。組織各種活動和項目時，也必須考慮女性移工的特殊情況，如休息日、工作時間、交流時間、興趣和愛好，以及政治上是否準備好成為一名領袖。我們也與本地的支持者和機構合作，提供女性移工所需的各種服務，包括健康檢查、休閒、救助、翻譯、技能培訓等。

我們的勝利

談及女性移工運動，要實施喚起、組織和動員這些基本原則是其中一個挑戰。這是由於身處海外、臨時性、孤立、污名化、缺乏保護和分散的特殊現實處境。這需要深入調查，即便在亞太地區，我們也要根據不同國家的情況，而構想獨特的策略。

在時間、能力和資源都有限的情況下，我們努力建立女性移工運動並取得諸多勝利。我們運動的現狀就是我們勝利的證明。

我們不斷培養女性移工的能力和跨代領導力，以及適應新情況的靈活度，也是勝利之一。我們駁倒女性移工教育程度低下、落後和難以組織的迷思。相反我們證明了女性移工隨時都準備為自己奮鬥。她們所需要的是支持，讓她們有機會領導。

在科技的幫助下，亞洲的女性移工現在更加連結。她們相互學習如何組織和分享知識。愈來愈多的女性移工敢於發聲並申訴。我們繼續以各種形式組織群眾行動，目的是教育公眾並培養新領導者。

儘管香港、台灣、澳門、新加坡和馬來西亞的政治空間不斷縮小，女性移工仍能促進權益，取得如下成果：

1. 在香港，女性移工的年薪增加
2. 在台灣，女性移工的勞工保險保障、降低續約費用、取消強制出境、允許直接僱用和產假保障

然而，面對日益嚴重的多重危機和戰爭威脅，我們面臨著更大的挑戰。在新自由主義全球化的背景下，女性移工、尋求庇護者、難民和流離失所者是被剝奪政治、經濟和社會文化權利的人。我們必須一起應對這些挑戰。

我們是工人，我們不是奴隸


支持包容，拒絕歧視


移工團結，我們永不會被打敗

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