Protect the rights of irregular migrants - Without reforms to widen channels for
legal migration, irregular migration will remain a common feature within ASEAN.
Irregular migrants still lack access to the rights accorded to other migrants under
the AEC Blueprint and the 2012 Agreement. An extension of the protections
outlined under the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of
Migrant Workers to irregular workers, is an essential step. Further co-operation
should also focus on reducing the exploitation of irregular migrants. Since labour
migration has become highly commercialized in the ASEAN region (ILO, 2006),
irregular, commercially-assisted border-crossings that involve human exploitation