ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the advocacy of migrant civil society in Southeast Asia. The term migrant civil society encompasses a wide range of actors, including migrant self-organising, i.e. migrant-led organisations, as well as various support organisations. The main focus, though, is on the political dimension of migrant civil society activism and thus the political representation of an often-marginalised sector: temporary labour migrants. Migrant rights activism mirrors the various spaces and levels in which policies are negotiated and enacted that affect the situation of the migrants. The aim of this chapter is to map these various levels of advocacy. After a brief overview on the conceptual and theoretical literature on migrant civil society activism, with particular focus on Southeast Asia, the chapter will analyse and illustrate the (trans)national, regional, and global levels of advocacy. The Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) is presented as a case study for a network that encompasses the grassroots as well as the global level of migration policies and advocacy. The conclusion will discuss how these levels are connected and if this multi-level engagement is expanding the space for and influence of migrant civil society.
