Thammasat University students interested in the ASEAN studies, political science, history, sociology, gender studies, economics, and related subjects may find a new book useful.
Migration in Southeast Asia: IMISCOE Regional Reader is an Open Access book available for free download at this link:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-25748-3
It is edited by Professor Sriprapha Petcharamesree of the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University and Dr. Mark P. Capaldi of the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University.
The Thammasat University Library collection includes several books about different aspects of migration in Southeast Asia.
The International Migration Research Network (IMISCOE) is the largest interdisciplinary network of scholars in the field of migration.
The research network consists of 63 research institutes from different countries around the world and from disciplines including sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, law, demography, public administration, geography and history.
An Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) publication from last year reported:
The amount and types of support to migrant workers during COVID-19 differed in scale and scope across countries. Almost all sending countries provided repatriation support, including, for some, food, lodging, and free personal protective equipment (PPE) during quarantine after arrival. Others included cash transfers, free COVID testing, and psychosocial counselling. MRCs in the Mekong provided migrants with food packs, PPE, local transportation, and referral to other government or civil society services. Some sending countries also provided online livelihood and skills training and job placement services to returning workers. In destination countries, support for migrant workers included visa or work permit extensions, temporary waiving of foreign worker levies, improved standards for migrant worker accommodations, free wi-fi and SIM cards, assistance in sending remittances during movement restrictions, and psychosocial counselling. Some conclusions can be drawn about what interventions are important during emergencies and how to prepare for interventions.
During the pandemic, it became clear that public resources are necessary, and public resources for migrant returnees are not always prioritised. This underscores the importance of contingency planning for future crises, whether at the national, bilateral, or regional level. Contingency plans and funds should address repatriation costs, including local transportation, testing and treatment, PPE, and quarantine requirements. Information about migrants and their families is essential for reintegration programmes, but may not be accessible to national authorities. It is important to recognise that not all needs can be met with money, and some returnees, especially those with traumatic experiences, will need psychological support before they can successfully reintegrate into the local community. MRCs fill important gaps in social protection and provide job searching assistance to returnees. It is also necessary to make the general public more aware of migrants’ problems and concerns, a challenge often neglected in national reintegration programmes. Finally, an important lesson is the value of sharing experiences among countries, including sharing information on successful projects as well as failures.
The new book Migration in Southeast Asia explains:
Economic development successes enjoyed by a number of countries in the region, as well as opportunities for employment, relative security and safety, attracts migrants both intra-and cross regional. The last 20 years have seen unprecedented movements of people through Southeast Asia as millions have migrated for better livelihoods and a growing number have been fleeing persecution. Whilst such patterns of migration are nothing new to the region, what does seem to be changing— apart from the increasing scale of the phenomenon—is that States are increasing their efforts to block or criminalize undocumented or irregular migration, reducing the opportunities for people to legally move around. However, more restrictive migration policies in the region are not stemming the flow of migrants but instead are forcing individuals to cross borders illegally, increasing their vulnerability to a whole range of human rights abuses. Restrictive migration policies applied by some States in the region not only affects those crossing the borders but is also impacting the inclusion of those living and moving within national borders.
Traditionally, research on migration in the region has tended to focus on the contexts of migration that are dangerous, abusive and exploitative. Irregular migrants and trafficked victims have been well documented, as is how they are vulnerable to mistreatment and discrimination (as they are rarely protected by national laws). However, studies pertaining stateless individuals living in States that do not recognize them as citizens as well as refugees and asylum seekers seem to be lacking. Whilst their individual situations may be different, they are often interlinked and, in some cases, indistinguishable, as in Southeast Asia, when individuals cannot move and live freely, they can move between categories of vulnerability and victimhood. The current situation of migrant workers facing a high risk from the COVID 19 pandemic is evidence of their vulnerabilities. The academic literature on these migrant groups in Southeast Asia has rightly focused on the challenges of getting States to recognize the human rights of these non-citizens.
As governments in the region increasingly take a more conservative and hard-line approach, the relevant regional mechanisms under ASEAN favor the ‘ASEAN Way’ of non-interference and State sovereignty, leaving irregular foreign migrants labelled as either ‘illegals’ or victims of exploitation or conflict. In addition, what seems to be lacking from migration study in the region is how to explain not only agency and resilience but also how political concepts such as borders, nation-state, citizenship and political community are intertwined with migration not only from regional perspective but also nationally. Concepts of borders, visible or invisible, perpetuate protection, provision and participation of migrants in the region. This book is an attempt to fill such gaps. […]
Not only does this publication provide an updated overview of migration within Southeast Asia, the innovation of this book is from looking at not only how such concepts as borders, citizenship and exclusion create vulnerabilities, but also examining the interlocking of vulnerabilities, agency and resilience. All chapters are grounded offering empirical perspectives of each issue under study. As editors, we are grateful to all the authors of this book for contributing conceptually, theoretically and programmatically to a deeper understanding of the interlocking principles of protection, provision and participation within the region’s migration.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)