Deepa Bharathi,Anna EngblomandMelissa Alvarado

Opinion | What do Asians really think of migrant workers? You might be shocked

Thirty per cent of Singaporeans believe migrant workers are a drain on the economy, finds study by the ILO and UN

And more than eight in 10 Malaysians believe migration and crime are linked

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Chinese actress Luna Kwok in the film ‘A Land Imagined’, which sheds light on the precarious existence of Singapore’s migrant workers. Photo: AFP

Deepa Bharathi,Anna EngblomandMelissa Alvarado

Published: 9:00am, 18 Dec 2019Updated: 10:02am, 18 Dec 2019

On December 18, 2000, the international community adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Thus, we mark what is now known as International Migrants Day.

In the 19 years since the convention, we have made it easier and easier to move around our connected world. We have proven that migrant workers make huge financial contributions to the societies they are from and the societies they work in. Women migrant workers especially catalyse large changes at home through the sending of their remittances.

With increasing numbers of migrant workers, the expression and reiteration of their fundamental rights have never been more crucial.

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, 11.6 million people are migrant workers – 5.2 million of whom are women. Many countries in the region rely on migrant workers for the functioning of their economies. These migrants shoulder large shares of work and fill local labour shortages in key sectors like manufacturing, domestic and care work, services, and agriculture. With ageing populations and declining birth rates in several Asean countries, growing shortages will continue. Migrant workers are willing to fill these gaps.

But what do people think of migrant workers?

The report “Public Attitudes towards Migrant Workers in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand” by the International Labour Organisation and UN Women attempts to answer this question.

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.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Thirty per cent of Singaporeans believe migrant workers are a drain on the economy, finds study by the ILO and UN And more than eight in 10 Malaysians believe migration and crime are linked

Thirty per cent of Singaporeans believe migrant workers are a drain on the economy, finds study by the ILO and UN

And more than eight in 10 Malaysians believe migration and crime are linked