ASEAN leaders to sign pact on protection of migrant workers’ rights


By TED CORDERO, GMA News
Leaders of the 10-member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to sign an agreement that will promote and protect the rights of migrant workers across the region during the week-long summit next week.
“The ASEAN leaders are also expected to sign the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers,” Foreign Affairs acting spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said during a press briefing at the ASEAN International Media Center in Pasay City on Friday.
The ASEAN counts as members the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.
Bolivar said the signing of the agreement is the “centerpiece” of the Philippine’s chairmanship.
The signing of the agreement comes a decade after the ASEAN adopted the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers during the country’s chairmanship in 2007.
Twenty-one heads of state, including United States President Donald Trump, China Premier Li Keqiang and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, are expected to attend the series of high-profile meetings.
Government security forces are deploying nearly 60,000 army and police personnel during the Nov. 10-14 event. —KBK, GMA News

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