Please help the people on Taiwan.
Aristotle
Sign this petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html
Late on Sunday August 21, 2005 a violent riot erupted by more than
1,600 ethnic, migrant workers building a mass transit railway project
in Kaohsiung Taiwan.
Workers set fire to their dormitory in southern
Taiwan, burnt cars and hurled rocks at police after
some were apprehended.
There are estimated between 300,000 to 500,000 migrant workers on
Taiwan many of whom are tricked into working on Taiwan with offers of
lucrative jobs only to find themselves as slaves to "contractors" and
"agents" on Taiwan.
Below is a petition the the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the
International Labour Organization to immediately take appropriate
actions to investigate the ongoing atrocities being perpetrated by the
Taiwanese against ethnic minority workers on Taiwan.
http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html
"To: The Honorable, Director General Juan Somaviaf of the
International Labour Organization
We, the undersigned organizations, institutions, churches and
individuals appeal to the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the
International Labour Organization to immediately take appropriate
actions to investigate the cause of the most recent violent riot by
ethnic, migrant workers that erupted late on Sunday August 21, 2005 by
more than 1,600 migrant workers building a mass transit railway project
in Kaohsiung Taiwan.
We demand that Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (闡腑) be
removed and expelled from that position for her gross dereliction of
her duties. Specifically to timely investigate and provide appropriate
assistance to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers currently in
the Taiwan area.
We are appealing to the Director General Juan Somaviaf of the
International Labour Organization to investigate the current
maltreatment of migrant workers in the Taiwan area and to refer said
findings to the International Court of Justice.
We call for the formation of an independent oversight institution
composed of migrant workers in the Taiwan area to take positive actions
to prevent further violence as well as extend free, timely, appropriate
and full assistance to all distressed migrant workers.
Labor standards for migrant workers in the Taiwan area fall below the
minimum standards of basic labor rights in terms of freedom of
association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, equality of
opportunity and treatment, housing, facilities for recreation, cultural
expression and other standards regulating conditions across the entire
spectrum of work related issues.
We seek the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized
human and labor rights for all migrants in the Taiwan area. The
decision to migrate, in the same way as the decision to authorize or
not to authorize migration for employment is an rational decision,
based on knowledge of the conditions of work and life in the areas of
employment and is needed to remedy general or sectoral labor shortages.
Provisions for the protection of migrant workers do, themselves, have
effects on the protection of the entire workforce that in protecting
migrant workers against exploitation and stipulating first and foremost
the principle of equality of treatment, followed by equality of
opportunity and treatment with non migrant workers.
The powers that be, in the Taiwan area fail to implement instruments
and fulfill their obligation to apply, without discrimination in
respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully
within Taiwan area.
We demand the protection of human rights for all migrant workers and an
end to state sponsored discrimination, contemporary forms of slavery,
indentured servitude and forced labor in the Taiwan area.
Director General, the time to act is now. Migrants' rights are human
rights!
Sincerely,
The Undersigned "
http://www.petitiononline.com/migrants/petition.html
Links:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/08/22/taiwan.thaiworkers.reut/index.html