Permission to be Human: Violation of Migrant Workers

Columban Fr Peter O’Neill worked closely with exploited migrant workers from Indonesia living in Taiwan - Photo: Fr Peter O'Neill SSC

On 21 December 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 March as the “International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims.” The date was chosen because on 24 March 1980, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador was assassinated by pro-government forces as he celebrated mass. Archbishop Romero became a fearless voice for the poor and oppressed during El Salvador’s civil war, a 13-year conflict that lasted from 1979 to 1992. Pope Francis canonized him as a saint in 2018, recognizing him as a martyr who paid the ultimate price for his pastoral courage.

During my 26 years as a Columban missionary priest serving in Taiwan, I witnessed the human rights violations of hundreds of migrant workers from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Despite the Taiwan government encouraging home countries to limit recruitment costs to one month’s salary of AU$1,300, migrant workers arrive in Taiwan in debt bondage having paid as high as AU$8,000 to a labour hire provider in their country of origin to secure a job in Taiwan . This is in violation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) “Employer Pays Principle”, which states that all costs associated with recruitment should be borne by the employer, not the employee. 

I will never forget the day Dewi, an Indonesian migrant caregiver, arrived at the Columban Hope Workers’ Centre[1] in Chungli, Taiwan where I was the director at the time. The Centre received a phone call from the Taipei City labour office requesting we provide safe shelter for Dewi. Upon arriving at the Center, Dewi was merely skin and bones. She wore an eye patch over her right eye where her female employer had poked her with her finger causing internal bleeding. The husband took Dewi to the hospital where she was admitted for surgery. The elderly lady in the bed next to Dewi noticed all the bruisers over her body and informed her son the next time he visited. Thankfully the son rang the local labour office for assistance.

Fr Peter was the Director of the Hsinchu Catholic Diocese Migrants & Immigrants Service Centre (HMISC) where he accompanied victims of labour exploitation at the male shelter. - Photo: Fr Peter O'Neill SSC

Dewi had a huge scar on her right forearm where her employer had deliberately burnt her with a hot iron. Both her feet were severely swollen and bruised where her employer had constantly hit her with the spine of a large chopping knife. Scars covered her whole back where her employer often hit her with the ferrule end of an umbrella. Dewi’s employer would often grab the hair on her scalp and whack her head against the wall resulting in hair loss. I thought to myself: “How could another human being inflict such violent abuse on an innocent migrant worker who was taking care of her twin sons with physical disabilities?”

The Indonesian and Taiwanese case workers at the Hope Workers’ Centre listened intently to Dewi’s story and educated her on her rights as a victim of gross human rights abuse. At the time, most Taiwanese government officials were not educated on the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons which was adopted in 2000 as part of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, often called the Palermo Protocol.  Despite the Centre’s many pleas for the government to recognize Dewi as a victim of labour exploitation, they fell on deaf ears.

Dewi had the courage to sue her employers for physical abuse. After more than a year, Dewi won her criminal case, only for her employers to appeal the judge’s sentencing. A year later her employers lost their appeal. Due to compassionate grounds, the judge did not send Dewi’s employers to prison.

With the criminal case complete Dewi’s civil case for damages could move forward. By this time Dewi had lost all hope and decided to return home to Indonesia. Later, we heard that Dewi’s Taiwan labour hire provider accompanied her male employer to Indonesia where she was given a small amount of compensation.  

Over the two years Dewi lived at the Hope Workers’ Centre shelter, the Taiwan government did not permit her to transfer to a new employer where she could earn money to send home to her family. Dewi was also a victim of unjust government regulations. Dewi gave permission for the Centre to use her story of gross human rights violations to advocate for the protection of the rights of migrant workers who are victims of labour exploitation. 

The Migrants Empowerment Network in Taiwan, of which the Hope Workers’ Centre is a member, advocated successfully for the January 2009 promulgation of the Taiwan government’s Human Trafficking Prevention and Control Act. This gave migrant workers, who are victims of human trafficking, permission to work while being a witness in court against their traffickers.

Columban Fr Peter O'Neill is the Society Vicar in Hong Kong.