28 February 2013 - National News Bureau of Thailand. The Public Health Ministry has announced that it is from now on taking care of migrant workers’ health, with an emphasis on contagious disease control in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
27 February 2013 - Eurasia Review. The exodus of many Rohingya over the past year has brought increased international awareness to their plight, as well as Southeast Asia’s inability to deal effectively with forced migration. A regional approach is needed to find a durable solution to the influx of Rohingya boat people.
27 February 2013 - Financial Times blog. Thailand’s attempt to register around 1.5m illegal migrant workers by the middle of next month is causing more problems than it might solve. The deadline for workers to apply for permits has been extended – but with employers reluctant to apply on behalf of workers, and workers forced to jump through several expensive bureaucratic hoops, there are still 1m yet to complete their registration. Hanging over the process is the threat of deportation – and worries for business.
26 February 2013 - CNN. In a case that brought to light issues of unfair pay and poor living conditions among foreign workers in Singapore, a court sentenced four Chinese nationals to several weeks in prison for instigating an "illegal" strike in late November.
26 February 2013 - Daily Mirror. A majority of participants in an open forum called for restrictions on migration to countries which do not have strong bi-lateral agreements with Sri Lanka with regards to the safety and protection of rights of Sri Lankan migrant workers.
26 February 2013 - BBC News. Indians working abroad continue to send more money home than their counterparts from other countries.
25 February 2013 - Muscat Daily. The Kafala system, followed in GCC countries, will be focus of the two-day International Migrant Workers’ Conference, to be organised by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, in Dhaka, Bangladesh from February 26.
25 February 2013 - Times of India. The ministry of labour and employment on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with four states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand - on inter-state co-ordination to help prevent exploitation of migrant workers, especially those who work in brick kilns.
21 February 2013 - The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has reiterated its call for authorities to enforce non-discriminatory policies for migrant workers.
21 February 2013 - Malaysian Insider. Professor Amarjit Kaur writes a two-part series revisiting the history of Indian migrant workers in then Malaya, now citizens of Malaysia.
21 February 2013 - Global Times. The departure of Nepali migrant workers abroad for employment has increased by 33 percent in the past seven months as compared to the corresponding period last year. According to the Department of Foreign Employment, political instability coupled with the lack of opportunity and favorable working environment back home were the major reasons for the rise
20 February 2013 - Times of India. The state is drafting a Migrant Welfare Social Security Act that aims at protecting the labour rights of migrants. It will also facilitate the process of registering all migrants coming to the state.
20 February 2013 - Bloomberg. With one of the world’s fastest-aging populations, South Korea has gone from a country where labor was the only abundant resource to one seeking staff to help run the plants and farms of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. While neighboring Japan has largely rejected imported labor as a solution to its aging workforce, South Korea is beginning to accept it. Immigrants have risen sevenfold since 2000, to 2.8 percent of the population, and could make up more than 6 percent by 2030, the government said.
20 February 2013 - Himalayan Times. Due to lack of confidence in the government‚ fewer employment opportunities‚ and social pressure‚ more of the younger population have developed an intention to migrate permanently to another country‚ according to a global survey.
19 February 2013 - ABC News. A new U.N. report paints a grim picture of the millions of people trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor: They come from at least 136 different nationalities, have been detected in 118 countries, and the majority of victims are women though the number of children is increasing.
