|
YOUR
goods for our workers. That in a nutshell is the
challenge of developing countries to industrialized
nations in asking the receiving countries to
“liberalize” entry of migrant workers to level the
playing field and make up for the imbalance in the flow
of goods that heavily favors rich nations as a
consequence of globalization.
Senate
Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. pointed out that
free trade, which is being promoted by the World Trade
Organization (WTO), enables developed countries to flood
the markets of the developing countries with their
goods.
While,
theoretically, developing countries have reciprocal
trading rights, they actually do not have the capacity
to produce and export as much goods as they want to even
up trade between them and the developed world.”
The
senator’s statement was released a day after a leading
alliance of advocates for migrant workers assailed the
timing of the approval, on first reading, by the
European Parliament of a set of guidelines mandating
deportation of undocumented foreign workers. The
alliance noted the irony of the timing: European
officials are due for a series of talks with Philippine
officials, where they are expected to prod the
Philippine side to support a liberalization of services
between Europe and Asia, to allow the entry here of
expatriate labor, and allow the entry of more Filipino
skilled workers in the continent.
An
official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on
Monday cautioned the European Union (EU) against
possible harsh treatment of more than 60,000
undocumented Filipino workers, saying these people “are
there for economic reasons and not to sow terror.”
He said
the EU Parliament has adopted the policy on forcible
deportation of foreign illegal migrant workers as part
of the measures to secure its borders from countries
with history of coddling terrorists.
“We need
to explain this to the EU…that migration is an economic
issue for us, and the Philippines has never been part of
countries with terrorist cells [wherein] the presence of
their nationals is a cause for suspicion,” said a senior
DFA official who requested anonymity.
The DFA
official said the Philippines should not be compared
with other countries like Morocco, Algeria or even Syria
and Iraq—the presence of whose nationals is being
questioned because of terrorism-related issues in these
territories.
“They
[referring to the EU] see real problems on existence of
large groups of undocumented foreign workers and the EU
is now adopting measures to prevent problems in the
future,” said the official.
Meanwhile, he also questioned the integration of the
policy of migration, including the “dignified
deportation” of the illegal migrant workers in the EU
proposed Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with
the Philippines.
The PCA
is a bilateral agreement being pushed by the EU with
respective member countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to be able to qualify
with the comprehensive free trade agreement between the
EU and Asean.
“Migration as a policy should be a subject to a separate
bilateral labor agreement and must not be part of a
trade agreement,” he explained.
The
diplomat lamented that not even one of the 27 member
countries of the EU has ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and
their Families that seek to promote rights and welfare
of the foreign migrant workers including those that are
undocumented.
He said
in formulating an EU-wide rule, “it (EU) should abide by
the general principles of the UN treaty on migrant
workers, but they don’t want to even ratify it (UN
treaty)”.
Meanwhile, Pimentel argued that if there is one thing
that could make free trade between the developing and
developed world more acceptable, “it is the free entry
or mobility of the teeming masses of workers of the
developing world into the production markets of the
developed world.”
“This is
not a one-sided deal. It will enable our workers to earn
more money to send back home so that their families can
buy the goods that the developed world produce,” argued
Pimentel when he addressed the recent Asian-Europe
Parliamentarians Partnership conference in Beijing,
China. |
