Human rights organizations yesterday presented their demands to safeguard the rights of immigrants and migrant workers.
More than 10 groups demonstrated in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei, including the TransAsia Sisters Association Taiwan, the Taiwan Immigration Youth Alliance and the Serve the People Association.
The groups demanded that a draft bill proposed by the Executive Yuan include blue-collar migrant workers in its definition of new residents.
Photo Courtesy of TransAsia Sisters Association Taiwan
They also called for a system to train interpreters in relevant fields, provisions for combating discrimination against migrant workers and a second-level government unit within the Executive Yuan to take charge of immigration policy and the rights and interests of new residents.
“It is gratifying that the Legislative Yuan passes a draft bill on the protection of new residents’ rights,” one group said. “However, the two most critical provisions have not yet been finalized, namely, the definition of new residents, and the level and responsibilities of the competent authority for new resident affairs.”
“The National Immigration Agency, which is the current unit responsible for migrant workers’ affairs, is a third-level unit, and there is no overall immigration policy,” TransAsia Sisters Association Taiwan chairwoman Hung Man-chih (洪滿枝) said. “If there is no second-level agency handling these things, then nothing will change in terms of policy.”
The groups said that only white-collar migrant workers and foreign professionals were included in seven separate bills proposed by lawmakers, they said.
“Migrant workers have made significant contributions to Taiwan’s economy and society. There is no reason to exclude blue-collar migrant workers from this bill,” the groups said. “This is obvious discrimination.”
Immigrant rights activist Liu Chun-liang (劉俊良) said that during a preliminary review of the draft bills by the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday last week, one of the articles that legislators across party lines agreed on was that the government should provide new resident families with consultation services covering family, marriage and childcare.
“However, the government still has not provided substantive protections regarding immigrants’ rights, including access to legal counsel, psychological services and social welfare benefits,” he said.
The establishment of an interpreter training system and services, which would be the basis for the effective implementation of many policies and services for immigrants, was also ignored in the committee discussions, he said.
“This makes us seriously doubt the forward-looking nature of this draft law for new residents,” he said.
The groups would consult with committee members involved in the proposal’s discussion next week, hoping to express concerns and ask that the bill not be passed hastily, he said.
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