Malaysia

(New York) - Indonesian and Malaysian ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur today should ensure that pending revisions to a labor pact include a minimum wage and stronger oversight of recruitment fees, Human Rights Watch said. The two governments have indicated their agreement to revise a 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow domestic workers to keep their passports and have a weekly day of rest, but negotiations have stalled on a minimum wage.

Malaysia and Indonesia are close to signing a comprehensive agreement on migrant workers that will better protect Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia from abuse by employers.

Both governments have settled all differences except for the issue of minimum salary for the more than 2 million Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Da’i Bachtiar said.

This report is one of the outputs of a global research and advocacy project of the Equal Rights Trust (ERT) on stateless persons in detention. It draws attention to the plight of Rohingya who have successfully made the hazardous journey to Malaysia – a present focus, and ‘hotspot’, for Rohingya migration. It focuses on detention practices in Malaysia and the cycle of deportation and trafficking, which must be broken.

People across the world leave their homes, families and countries in search of work and education, and to escape poverty, discrimination and conflict. Many risk everything, even their lives, for security and a chance to earn a living. At every step, they are vulnerable to exploitation, fraud and human rights abuses.

To mark International Migrants Day, migrants from around the globe have told Amnesty International how they have been exploited, detained and attacked on their search for a better life.

The Asean Committee for Migrant Workers (ACMW) Drafting Committee meets in Kuala Lumpur on 7 and 8 December 2009, hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources.