ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of regional arrangements to deal with the challenges of labour migration in Asia. It highlights the importance of the Bangkok Declaration on Irregular Migration and other regional processes for the possibility to arrive at win-win solutions in Asia. Regional consultative processes in Asia can be divided into pre and post-Bangkok Declaration processes. Many Asian countries have assumed the status of source, destination and/or transit countries of labour migration. In 1993, women accounted for about 55 per cent of all overseas land-based contract workers from the Philippines, and more than 60 per cent of those from Indonesia in 1994-1999. All East Asian and certain Southeast Asian countries have become hosts of an increasing number of female labour migrants from other Asian countries with low income and poor human development. Migration control is largely perceived as a sovereign prerogative of states, but migration management is, in itself, a huge challenge in Asia.
