Day 1 | 20 September

SESSION 4:

Regional Access to Justice and Remediation: Making it work for migrant workers

16:30-18:00 ICT

Background

Over half of the world’s 25 million victims of human trafficking and slavery are found in the Asia-Pacific region. The majority are linked to the formal economy and global supply chains. At the 2021 United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in partnership with The Remedy Project (TRP) launched the Operational Guidelines for Businesses on Remediation of Migrant Workers Grievances to help companies and industry groups develop voluntary programmes to remediate worker grievances, especially with regard to addressing human rights concerns of migrant workers in international supply chains.

One year on, the trend towards a more robust international ecosystem that aligns with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) of “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” continues, most recently with the European Commission's proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDD) and its cascading effects for markets everywhere, including southeast Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated migrant workers vulnerabilities and left them at increased risk of exploitation and in limbo between legal barriers to access justice across jurisdictions. Border restrictions have also introduced new barriers to regular migration, increasing the likelihood of migrants experiencing human and labour rights abuses. Within this framework, new paradigms and innovative solutions for access to justice and remediation for migrant workers are a priority.

Objectives

This main objective of this session will be to discuss the feasibility of innovative solutions for an international redress mechanism for migrant workers with the aim to develop better strategies and programmes to proactively identify, investigate, address, and ultimately prevent human rights violations. Specifically, the session will serve to:

Present the IOM Regional Mapping of State and non-State based remediation mechanisms for migrant worker grievances with particular focus on Hong Kong SAR China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam
Share best practices, challenges, and areas for joint engagement on the topic of access to justice and remediation
Unpack proposals for an inter-jurisdictional, regional remediation mechanism that would accelerate access to justice for migrant workers
Identify existing and potential innovative solutions for migrant workers to access cross-border remediation mechanisms

Guiding Questions

Panellists will reflect on the following questions:

What is good practice in operationalizing UNGPs “remedy” pillar in relation to facilitating migrant workers’ access to justice. How can it be replicated and scaled? What can we learn from remediation in cross-border trade agreements?
How can we create a more enabling environment for productive collaborations between the private sector, civil society, government and international actors, especially in light of changes in the regulatory ecosystems (for example: CSDD)?
How do we ensure migrant workers are active agents and rights holders in engaging on the topic of access to justice and remediation?

Day1 programme

SPEAKERS

Peppi Kiviniemi-Siddiq

Peppi Kiviniemi-Siddiq is the Senior Regional Specialist for Migrant Protection at IOM’s Asia-Pacific regional office in Bangkok, Thailand. In this role she supports the IOM missions in the region on IOM’s migrant protection portfolio ranging from counter trafficking, assistance to migrants in vulnerable situations to return and reintegration assistance to vulnerable migrants. Prior to joining the regional office, Peppi was working with IOM in Bangladesh coordinating the missions’ Rohingya humanitarian response in the country as well as managing projects from safe migration awareness to sustainable reintegration of Victims of Trafficking. Peppi has also worked as a journalist with the Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal in London and Brussels. Peppi holds an MSc in Comparative Politics and a BSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Archana Kotecha

Archana Kotecha is recognized as a regional expert on human trafficking and forced labour issues across APAC. A UK-qualified barrister and former corporate lawyer, Archana has over 15 years of experience advising international organizations (including the UN International Organization for Migration, UN International Labour Organization, US-AID), ASEAN bodies, governments and human rights practitioners on human trafficking and forced labour. Archana is widely published and regularly engaged as a subject matter expert by NGOs, governments, and the private sector. In 2017, Archana was named one of the top ten innovative lawyers in Asia Pacific by the Financial Times and she is also an alumnus of the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program run by the US Department of State. She is regularly named as an influential changemaker and was most recently named one of Asia’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs by APAC Entrepreneur.

Tony Khaw

Tony is Director, Corporate Social Responsibility & Human Rights in the Sustainability Office of NXP Semiconductors. He has well over 20 years of experience in implementing corporate social responsibility programs in manufacturing operations and in the supply chain. Tony joined NXP in Jan 2013 to lead the Corporate Social Responsibility and Compliance function. Tony led the effort to fully develop and deploy the NXP CSR and Human Rights program to NXP manufacturing facilities, globally. This was followed by a full risk assessment, due diligence, and the deployment of the program to the supply chain. Tony and the CSR team, based in Singapore, is also responsible for supporting NXP’s compliance to customers’ CSR programs and requirement. The NXP CSR program covers, (1) Labor/Human Rights (2) Environmental Compliance (3) Health & Safety (4) Business Ethics, and (5) CSR Management Systems.

Attorney Celso Hernandez

Atty. Celso Hernandez is the Director II of the Labor Market Development Branch of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). His experience in the overseas employment program started in 2008 as a legal officer and then after he handled several divisions and offices in the POEA and was exposed in industry regulation, adjudication and welfare assistance.
He contributed in the creation of several manuals, handbooks and guidelines strengthening worker protection and handling illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons cases. He is also speaker in various seminars and trainings sponsored by POEA and other government agencies.
Atty Hernandez obtained his communication degree from the University of the Philippines and his Juris Doctor from the Adamson University and became a member of the Philippine Bar in 2008.

Andrey Sawchenko

Andrey is Regional Vice President, Forced Labor Programs, Asia Pacific for International Justice Mission (IJM). He currently leads IJM’s programs working with governments and civil society partners to demonstrate effective models to eradicate forced labor from key industries and recruiting corridors in SE Asia. Andrey’s last post was Regional Director for IJM in southern India, leading programs working with Indian authorities to end forced labour slavery in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Andrey previously spent 10 years in Thailand and the Philippines leading teams fighting sex trafficking. After four years of IJM’s partnership with local law enforcement in metro Cebu, independent auditors found a stunning 72% decrease in the availability of children for commercial sex. Before joining IJM, Andrey was a lawyer in Seattle, USA.

United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, Asia-Pacific