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ABSTRACT
Existing studies of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states’ engagement with migrant worker rights focus on the experience of such workers from gender, labour and security perspectives. As such, these studies are yet to consider the broader impact of migrant worker rights on the process and nature of cooperation between ASEAN members. This article addresses this gap by framing migrant worker rights within the broader human rights socialization ongoing within Southeast Asia, driven by both members of ASEAN and external stakeholders. It argues that, contrary to many existing accounts of norms as creating shared commitments, migrant worker rights have led to considerable contestation, often driven by diverging national approaches to the issue. This article examines the impact of migrant worker rights norms on Thailand, the largest labour-recipient state in ASEAN. It asserts that Thailand’s diverging experience is caused by the lack of norm precision, resulting in the applicatory contestation of such norms.
Acknowledgements
I thank Mathew Davies, participants at the ISA Hong Kong 2016 and OCIS 2016 conferences and anonymous reviewers for their comments on the previous draft. I also thank Mary-Louise Hickey for her editorial help and Benjamin Zala, Cecilia Jacob and Vanessa Newby for their suggestions. Any mistake in this article is solely of the author’s.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Ruji Auethavornpipat is a PhD Candidate in the Department of International Relations, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University. His research examines the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regionalism, migrant worker rights policy and norm socialization in Southeast Asia.
Notes
1 Chris Baker, ‘The 2014 Thai Coup and Some Roots of Authoritarianism’, Journal of Contemporary Asia 46, no. 3 (2016): 390.
2 Peter J. Katzenstein, ‘Introduction: Alternative Perspectives on National Security’, in The Culture of National Security: Norms and Identity in World Politics, ed. Peter J. Katzenstein (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 5.
3 Jeffrey T. Checkel, ‘International Institutions and Socialization in Europe: Introduction and Framework’, International Organization 59, no. 4 (2005): 804.
4 See Emanuel Adler and Michael N. Barnett, ‘A Framework for the Study of Security Communities’, in Security Communities, eds. Emanuel Adler and Michael N. Barnett (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 42.
5 Ted Hopf, ‘The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory’, International Security 23, no. 1 (1998): 172 and Alexander Wendt, ‘Anarchy Is What States Make of It: The Social Construction of Power Politics’, International Organization 46, no. 2 (1992): 399.
6 See Martha Finnemore, ‘International Organizations as Teachers of Norms: The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and Science Policy’, International Organization 47, no. 4 (1993): 565.
7 See Audie Klotz, Norms in International Relations: The Struggle Against Apartheid (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995), 165; Thomas Risse-Kappen, Steve C. Ropp and Kathryn Sikkink, The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 17; and Richard Price, ‘Reversing the Gun Sights: Transnational Civil Society Targets Land Mines’, International Organization 52, no. 3 (1998): 613.
8 Antje Wiener, ‘The Dual Quality of Norms and Governance Beyond the State: Sociological and Normative Approaches to “Interaction”’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10, no. 1 (2007): 47.
9 Amitav Acharya, Whose Ideas Matter? Agency and Power in Asian Regionalism (Singapore: ISEAS, 2010), 10.
10 Ibid., emphasis added.
11 Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, ‘International Norm Dynamics and Political Change’, International Organization 52, no. 4 (1998): 895.
12 See Checkel, ‘International Institutions’, 813–4; Andrew P. Cortell and James W. Davis, ‘How Do International Institutions Matter? The Domestic Impact of International Rules and Norms’, International Studies Quarterly 40, no. 4 (1996): 451; Jeffrey W. Legro, ‘The Transformation of Policy Ideas’, American Journal of Political Science 44, no. 3 (2000): 419; Thomas Risse-Kappen, ‘Ideas Do Not Float Freely: Transnational Coalitions, Domestic Structures, and the End of the Cold War’, International Organization 48, no. 2 (1994): 186.
13 Antje Wiener and Uwe Puetter, ‘Quality of Norms Is What Actors Make of It: Critical Constructivist Research on Norms’, Journal of International Law and International Relations 5, no. 1 (2009): 8.
14 Amitav Acharya, Whose Ideas Matter?, 21.
15 Ibid., 14.
16 Ibid., 21.
17 Michael W. Kramer, Organizational Socialization: Joining and Leaving Organizations (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010), 191–2.
18 Nicole Deitelhoff and Lisbeth Zimmermann, ‘Things We Lost in the Fire: How Different Types of Contestation Affect the Validity of International Norms’ (PRIF working paper no. 18, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Frankfurt, 2013), 5.
19 Ibid.
20 Abram Chayes and Antonia Handler Chayes, ‘On Compliance’, International Organization 47, no. 2 (1993): 189.
21 Wiener and Puetter, ‘Quality of Norms Is What Actors Make of It’, 6.
22 Christiane Kuptsch and Philip Martin, ‘Low-skilled Labour Migration’, in Global Migration Governance, ed. Alexander Betts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 37.
23 Robyn Iredale and Nicola Piper, Identification of the Obstacles to the Signing and Ratification of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers: The Asia-Pacific Perspective, SHS/2003/MC/2 (Paris: International Migration and Multicultural Policies Section, UNESCO, October 2003), 5.
24 As of December 2016, ILO Conventions 97 and 143 have been ratified by 49 and 23 states, respectively (out of all ILO membership of 185), and the UN Convention has been ratified by 49 states. See UNESCAP, Inter-regional Report on Labour Migration and Social Protection (New York: United Nations, 2013), 10.
25 International Labour Organization, ILO Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration: Non-binding Principles and Guidelines for a Rights-based Approach to Labour Migration (Geneva: ILO, 2006), 6.
26 ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, 2007).
27 ASEAN Secretariat, Statement of the Establishment of the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, 2012).
28 ASEAN Secretariat, Hanoi Plan of Action (Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, 1997).
29 ASEAN Secretariat, Vientiane Action Programme 2004–2010 (Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat, 2004).
30 The three pillars are political-security, economic and socio-cultural.
31 ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.
32 Ibid.
33 Sriprapha Petcharamesree, ‘ASEAN and Its Approach to Forced Migration Issues’, International Journal of Human Rights 20, no. 2 (2016): 182.
34 Interview, December 10, 2015.
35 I thank the anonymous reviewer for raising this point.
36 Susan Kneebone, ‘Introduction: Migrant Workers Between States: In Search of Exit and Integration Strategies in South East Asia’, Asian Journal of Social Science 40, no. 4 (2012): 384.
37 Mathew Davies, Realising Rights: How Regional Organisations Socialise Human Rights (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014), 35. See also Trine Flockhart, ‘“Masters and Novices”: Socialization and Social Learning Through the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’, International Relations 18, no. 3 (2004): 367.
38 H.E. Pisan Manawapat, ‘Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to the United States’, quoted in Royal Thai Embassy, ‘Commitment on Labor Protection’, January 14, 2016, http://www.thaianti-humantraffickingaction.org/Home/?p=1794 (accessed June 1, 2016).
39 International Labour Organization, ‘International Migration in ASEAN at a Glance’, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---sro-bangkok/documents/genericdocument/wcms_381576.pdf (accessed October 6, 2016).
40 Thai Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, ‘TLS: Means to Support Labourer Not to Be Infringed’, http://www.labour.go.th/en/index.php/2011-04-07-10-51-50/340-tls-means-to-support-labourer-not-to-be-infringed (accessed October 19, 2016).
41 The four ministerial regulations are the Ministerial Regulation on Standard Employment in Fishing Boats Exceeding 30 Tons Gross (November 2014), the Ministerial Regulation to Protect Agricultural Workers (December 2014), the Ministerial Regulations to Protect Fisheries Workers (December 2014) and the Ministerial Regulation on Child Labour in Seafood Industries (January 2016).
42 The Royal Ordinance on Fisheries 2015.
43 The Maritime Labour Act 2015 and the Fisheries Act 2015.
44 ILO Convention 187 (Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health) ratified in March 2016, and the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, ratified in June 2016.
45 Jerrold W. Huguet, Aphichat Chamratrithirong and Kerry Richter, ‘Migration and Thailand: Policy, Perspectives and Challenges’, in Thailand Migration Report 2011, eds. Jerrold W. Huguet and Aphichat Chamratrithirong (Bangkok: International Organization for Migration, 2011), 12.
46 US Department of State, ‘Trafficking in Persons Report’, July 2001, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2001/3928.htm (accessed June 5, 2016).
47 Kate Hodol, Chris Kelly and Felicity Lawrence, ‘Revealed: Asian Slave Labour Producing Prawns for Supermarkets in US, UK’, The Guardian, June 10, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour (accessed December 8, 2016).
48 Makoto Peter Miyake et al., Recent Developments in the Tuna Industry: Stocks, Fisheries, Management, Processing, Trade and Markets (Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2010), xviii.
49 Martha Mendoza, Federal Officials Are Preparing to Enforce an 86-year-old Ban on Importing Goods Made by Children or Slaves under New Provisions of a Law Signed by President Barack Obama (Associated Press, February 25, 2016), http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-02-24/obama-bans-us-imports-of-slave-produced-goods (accessed December 8, 2016).
50 Robin McDowell, Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza, AP Investigation: Slaves May Have Caught the Fish You Bought (Associated Press, March 25, 2015), http://www.ap.org/explore/seafood-from-slaves/ap-investigation-slaves-may-have-caught-the-fish-you-bought.html (accessed December 8, 2016).
51 ‘Thai Junta Warns Media Against Reporting on Human Trafficking’, Khaosod English, March 25, 2016, http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2015/03/25/1427268620/ (accessed December 8, 2016).
52 Ibid.
53 Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), ‘Broken Promises: Why Thailand Should Stay on Tier 3 in the 2015 US Trafficking in Persons Report’, http://ejfoundation.org/sites/default/files/public/EJF_Thailand_TIP_Briefing.pdf (accessed September 25, 2016).
54 US Department of State, ‘Trafficking in Perons Report’, July 2015, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2015/index.htm (accessed June 3, 2016).
55 Fairfood International, Caught in a Trap: The Story of Poverty Wages Behind Asian Shrimp Sold in European Supermarkets (Amsterdam: Fair Food International, 2015), 27.
56 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, ‘Thailand Disappointed with the European Union’s Decision to Issue a Yellow Card’, Press Release, April 21, 2015, http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/media-center/14/55710-Thailand-Disappointed-with-the-European-Union%E2%80%99s-De.html (accessed June 10, 2016).
57 Martin Tsamenyi et al., ‘The European Council Regulation on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing: An International Fisheries Law Perspective’, International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 25, no. 1 (2010): 6.
58 Interview, December 28, 2015.
59 Nicole Sagener, ‘German Mep: EU Should Not Deal with Thai Military Junta’, February 12, 2016, https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/interview/german-mep-eu-should-not-deal-with-thai-military-junta/ (accessed June 14, 2016).
60 See Kengkij Kitirianglarp and Kevin Hewison, ‘Social Movements and Political Opposition in Contemporary Thailand’, Pacific Review 22, no. 4 (2009): 459 and Baker, ‘The 2014 Thai Coup’, 393.
61 World Bank, ‘Overview: Thailand’, http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/overview (accessed June 8, 2016).
62 Jon Fermqiest, ‘Update: Foreign Investment in Thailand Plunges 78%, Vietnam Sets Record’, Bangkok Post, January 13, 2016.
63 ‘Presentation of Phil Robertson, Deputy Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch’, Bangkok, December 18, 2015, http://www.arcmthailand.com/documents/documentcenter/Robertson-bio-abs-ppt.pdf (accessed June 12, 2016).
64 Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA), ‘Statistics’, http://www.thaituna.org/en/?page_id=440 (accessed June 4, 2016).
65 Felicity Lawrence, ‘Costco and CP Foods Face Lawsuit over Alleged Slavery in Prawn Supply Chain’, The Guardian, August 20, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/19/costco-cp-foods-lawsuit-alleged-slavery-prawn-supply-chain (accessed December 8, 2016).
66 ‘Nestlé Admits to Forced Labour in Its Seafood Supply Chain in Thailand’, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/nov/24/nestle-admits-forced-labour-in-seafood-supply-chain (accessed June 13, 2016).
67 Ibid.
68 Baker, ‘The 2014 Thai Coup’, 390.
69 Ibid.
70 See the full list at ‘Who Is Who? 200 Members in NLA’, matichon Online, http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1406822114&grpid=00&catid=00 (accessed June 15, 2016).
71 Ramon C. Sevilla and Yongyuth Chalamwong, ‘Dilemmas of Rapid Growth: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Policy Implications of Illegal Migration in Thailand’, TDRI Quarterly Review 11, no. 2 (1996): 18.
72 ‘Private Sector Calls on Yingluck to Step Down’, Thai PBS, February 24, 2014, http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/private-sector-calls-yingluck-step-2/.
73 Interview, December 21, 2015.