Human Security in East Asia
Tsuneo Akaha
Visiting Professor
Waseda University

Contents• Population, Migration, and Human Development inEast Asia
• Human Trafficking in East Asia
• International Labor Migration in East Asia
• Global Norms and Slow Regional Response• HIV/AIDS in East Asia
• Regional Cooperation in Human Trafficking and Labor
Migration• Regional Cooperation on HIV/AIDS• Migrants and HIV/AIDS• Conclusion

Population, Migration, and HumanDevelopment in East Asia
• East Asia is a region of great diversity in terms of national andmigration populations.
– Some net migrant exporters: China, Indonesia, Philippines– Some net migrant importers: Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia– Migrants’ remittances important: China, Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand• Migrant exporters and importers have conflicting interests andviews on international migration policy.
• Migration system is a culmination of wide-ranging demographic
patterns, population trends, economic developments, and socialchanges, as well as disparate policies.
• Consequently, the migration system produces huge numbers of“irregular”, “undocumented” migrants.

Human Trafficking• “Human trafficking” involves the luring of job-seekers,
mostly but not limited to women and children, out of
their country of origin or residence to countries ofdestination, where they are forced into prostitution,
child labor, and other forms of exploitation.
• Human trafficking often involves individual criminals
and organized crime that link market demand andsupply, similar to transnational corporations.
• Illegal trafficking slips through legal loopholes andcracks in immigration administration and bordercontrol in both developing and developed
countries__e.g., Japan’s “entertainment visa.”

Human Trafficking Linkages inNortheast AsiaCountrySending to:

Receiving from:Transit Point

China

Japan, ROK, Russia, DPRKSingapore, Sri Lanka,
Taiwan, Rest ofWorld

Yes

DPRK

China, Russia__________

Japan

_____

China, Philippines,
Russia, Taiwan,
Thailand_____Mongolia

China, ROK

_____

_____

ROKJapan, UnitedStates, Canada

China, Philippines,
Russia, Thailand

Yes

RussiaChina, Japan,
Mongolia, ROK,
Gulf States, Macao,
Sri Lanka

China, DPRKYes

Factors Contributing to Human
Trafficking• Ineffective state management of cross-border migration;• Lacking public awareness in both sending and receivingcountries;• Endless financial incentives for both traffickers and victims;• Cultural tolerance toward prostitution and otherconsequences of trafficking;• Delayed and inadequate assessment of the situation• Slow development of legislative and other institutions
against the crime; and,• Lack of economic opportunities in sending countries.

International Labor Migrationin East Asia
• International labor migration in East Asia is growing.
• Some countries are primarily labor-exporting countries,
some are labor-importing countries, and others are bothexporting and importing.
• Human security threats to migrant labor take various forms:
rights abuses by private recruiters, contractors, employers;
no protection under labor law; poor working conditions,wage discrimination, wage payment delays, unlawful
termination, no medical insurance.
• Undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable tohuman rights and work rights abuses; fear of deportation
keeps them quiet in the face of such abuses.

Global Norms and Slow Regional
Response• East Asian countries are slow in ratifying
international conventions regarding migrant
worker rights, e.g., International Convention on
the Protection of the Rights of All MigrantWorkers and Members of Their Families (CMW),ILO Convention Concerning Migration for
Employment (ILO C097), ILO Convention
Concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions andthe Promotion of Equality of Opportunities andTreatment of Migrant Workers (ILO C143).

Status of Ratification by East Asian Countries of Principal
International Conventions concerning Migrants, Refugees, andHuman Trafficking and Smuggling (as of June 30, 2008)

Status of Ratifications by East Asian Countries of Principal
International Human Rights Treaties (as of June 30, 2008)

HIV/AIDS in East Asia
• An estimated 800,000 persons were infected with HIV,including 0.1% of the adult population and there werean estimated 32,000 deaths due to AIDS in 2007. Thatis, about 14.5% of the world’s total HIV-infectedpopulation live in East Asia and about 14.3% of theworld’s total AIDS-related deaths occur in this region.
• 1,600,000 HIV infected persons in NEA and 1,590,000
in SEA in 2005.
• 42,400 AIDS deaths in NEA but 560,000 AIDS deaths inSEA in 2005. This speaks volumes about the lack ofawareness and medicine and medical infrastructure inSEA.

Regional Cooperation in HumanTrafficking and Labor Migration• Multi-level approach:– Unilateral or bilateral approaches are ineffective incombating human trafficking that involves multiple
citizenships or multiple countries of origin, transit, anddestination. They also create disparate (unfair)treatment of traffickers for the same crime committed
and of victims for the same injustice inflicted.
– Ditto for labor migration.
– Multilateral solutions at the regional level need toreflect global rules and standards.
– Such solutions need to be implemented/enforced ineach state.

Harmonization requires:• Information and opinion exchange for acommon understanding of the problems;• Protection of basic rights of migrant workers;• Strengthening of measures to prevent humantrafficking; and,• Reduction of irregular migration andencouragement of voluntary repatriation ofmigrants.

ASEAN Cooperation• ASEAN Vision 2020 adopted in 1997, calling for regional
cooperation to deal with trafficking in women and children.
• Hanoi Plan for Action adopted in 1998 for migrants and migration.
• ASEAN Plan for Action to Combat Transnational Crime adopted in1999, calling on member governments to cooperate in combating
trafficking in persons, drug trafficking, piracy, arms smuggling,money laundering, terrorism, international economic crime, andcyber crime.
• ASEAN Declaration Against Trafficking in Persons, Particularly
Women and Children adopted in 2004.
• Global Forum on Migration and Development hosted by thePhilippines in 2008, focused on the protection and empowermentof migrants and implications for development.

ASEAN Cooperation on HIV/AIDS• ASEAN is the most active promoter of regional
cooperation in East Asia regarding HIV/AIDS.
• ASEAN Regional Program on HIV/AIDS Prevention
and Control: 1995-2000; 2002-2005;2006-2010• ASEAN embraced the 2001 UN Declaration ofCommitment on HIV/AIDS by adopting ASEAN
Commitments on HIV and AIDS in 2007.
– Programs and actions must be comprehensive, multisectoral, integrated with other policies, humanitarian
in approach, and sustainable over time.

Cooperation in APEC
• On the agenda since 2000, but initial focus was on theeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS, rather thanhumanitarian aspects.
• Since the SARS outbreak in 2002-03, APEC has come toview HIV/AIDS as a threat to “health security.”• Strategy on HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseasesadopted in 2001.
• APEC Health Ministers adopted in 2007 “Guidelines for
Creating an Enabling Environment for Employers toImplement Effective Workplace Practices for People
Living with HIV/AIDS.”Migrants and HIV/AIDS• In recent years the vulnerability of migrants toHIV/AIDS has begun to receive focused attention in
East Asia as elsewhere. E.g., “Capacity Building
Seminar on Social Policies for Migrants to Prevent theTransmission of HIV/AIDS” hosted by APEC HealthWorking Group in Hanoi in 2008.
• Report “HIV/AIDS and Mobility in South-East Asia”
highlights the growing international migration in theregion and the vulnerability of migrants to HIV/AIDS.
• N1/H1 flu virus (swine flu), 2009 highlights the need tobalance the protection of pubic health and humanmobility across national borders.

Conclusion• Human trafficking, international labor migration,
HIV/AIDS raises serious human security issues.
• Regional cooperation is an essential part of amulti-level approach to the protection of humanrights of individuals, be they victims of trafficking,international labor migrants, or persons infectedor affected by HIV/AIDS.
• National, regional, and global policies shouldreflect all stake-holders’ interests and should beconsistent with each other.

• There is a wide gap in East Asian countries’ capacity to respond tothe human security challenges posed by human trafficking,international migration, and HIV/AIDS.
• Economic interests often prevail over human rights and publichealth concerns.
• The scale of the problems far exceeds the capacity of any individual
country to deal effectively; hence regional cooperation is essential.
• The regional countries’ interests are not necessarily identical andharmonization of policies is difficult.
• Regional identity, which is helpful in forging institutional
cooperation, is much stronger in SEA than in NEA; and region-wide
cooperation in East Asia is difficult. APEC is more concerned withtrade and economic issues.
• In addition to regional cooperation, inter-regional cooperation is
also important as human trafficking, international labor migration,and HIV/AIDS involve or affect individuals of multiple citizenships
and countries of origin, transit, and destination.