Enhancing cross border collaboration among service providers in Malaysia and Cambodia for providing comprehensive gender-responsive services and referrals for women migrant workers

[Check Against Delivery]

Ms Virpi Kukkasniemi-Leino, Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Dear UN Colleagues

Good morning!

On behalf of the United Nations in Cambodia, I am pleased to join this workshop alongside the delegation of the European Union to Malaysia. I hope you are all well.

Labour migration being a cross border issue requires approaches and solutions which are undertaken both by countries of origin as well as countries of destination. While at ASEAN level, there are many mechanisms, bilateral exchanges such as this on specific thematic issues are also very critical to build stronger rights based responses for those who may be left behind.

It is exciting to see many participants who are service providers from the government and civil society organisations from both Cambodia and Malaysia, in today’s virtual workshop.

Cross-border collaboration among service providers of country of origin and destination is a significant measure/action to provide timely and responsive services when women migrant workers need them the most. This includes information sharing and referrals mechanisms for health services, legal services and social support.

In the midst of COVID-19 pandemic uncertainty, cross-border collaboration is perhaps the over-riding principle in providing timely and responsive services when women migrant workers need it the most. This includes information sharing and referral for health, legal and social support.

Today’s workshop has multiple purposes.

One, to provide a platform for sharing case management practices and case studies, with a focus on coordination among different labour migration stakeholders in Malaysia and Cambodia;

Two, to identify good practices for cross-border collaboration in providing support services; and

Three, to strengthen cross-border collaboration among migrant resource centers (MRCs) and service providers in Malaysia and Cambodia.

This workshop contributes to Cambodia’s commitments under SDG 5, SDG 8. Additionally, it contributes to the implementation of the third national action plan for prevention of violence against women (NAPVAWIII), the third national strategic plan for countertrafficking in person and labour migration policy that have been prioritised strengthening multiple sectoral coordination at country level as well as cross-border cooperation.

Because of the many years of experience present in this virtual space, whether it be on providing services related to labour migration, gender-based violence, violence against women, and trafficking, this workshop will truly be a forum of learning. In turn, the workshop can offer practical solutions in strengthening cross border collaboration, particular in these uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic. By learning from each other, we will be better able to provide services for women migrant workers.

I am an advocate of learning and I hope we can engage constructively and respectfully.

I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate for the collaboration among UN agencies in this pilot UN Reform programme which this, potentially, is the way forward for multilateralism.

In closing, I wish to thank the EU for its support to the Safe and Fair programme.

Thank you.