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On April 28, the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) is delighted to collaborate with Work Better Innovations (WBI), a community interest company based in the UK, to launch their recently released report Migration with Dignity in East Asia: Policy: Comparison of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan on Recruitment Fees for Migrant Workers. TAEF is also honoured that the Executive Director of WBI Bonny Ling (凌怡華), along with our Chairman, Dr Hsin-Huang Michael Hisao and Division Chief of Cross-Border Workforce Affairs Centre, Mrs Hsiao Chiu Yu (于曉秋) from the Ministry of Labour gave remarks for the opening of the dialogue. The report focused on recruitment fees, examining the similarities and challenges of cross-border labour management policies between Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan and provided valuable insight into future policy reform directions.
During the dialogue, Executive Director Ling stressed the difficulties, including ‘invisible costs’ such as pre-training, body check-ups, passport fees and visa, etc. that a migrant worker has to face when job-hunting while relocating to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, reiterating the need to clarify the definition of ‘Migration with Dignity’ as well as respecting the ‘Dhaka Principles’ of a fair and just treatment during the recruitment process for migrant workers in the current system.
Centred on the concept of ‘Migration with Dignity,’ the report stood as a “first stepping stone towards migration policy reform” and could potentially expand to cover Marriage Migration in the near future. Moreover, the concrete policy suggestions from the report serve to inject more layers and proactivity into Taiwan’s New South Bound Policy, commented Dr. Hsiao. Ling also reiterated “a non-discriminatory recruitment” on the basis of International law, attempting to lower the numbers of bonded labour while breaking the two-tiered class system. Ling also tossed the questions to the Taiwanese audience and government, asking, “Who are the key workers, and how do we change the system to be more competitive while ensuring that migrant workers’ rights are protected?
As Taiwan is heading towards becoming a super-aged society, the role of the migrant labour force is more vital than ever, hence the popularity of the topic of migrant workers’ rights. During the Q&A session, apart from the debate on who should shoulder recruitment-related fees, several audience members put more emphasis on tackling systemic discrimination in various sectors in Taiwan, particularly the long-term care sector. In contrast, others highlighted once again the overlooked costs that come with job-hunting. Despite the variety of opinions, the message is clear—recruitment fees should not be abolished but instead should be shouldered by employers.
"Migration with Dignity in East Asia: Policy: Comparison of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan on Recruitment Fees for Migrant Workers" Full Text: https://drive.google.com/file/...
