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Political Economy of Development in the Global South Post-COVID-19 Pandemic pp 139–164Cite as

Governing Migrant Workers Post-COVID-19 in Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Mitigation and Transformative Agenda

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Abstract

The vulnerability faced by migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the crucial issues to be discussed and opens the agenda for discussing the political economy. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the role of Southeast Asian countries in governing migrant workers in the Southeast Asian region during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyse Southeast Asian countries’ cooperation to consolidate transnational mitigation strategies to ensure the rights of migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic era. This article considers primary literature as well as secondary sources, such as news articles, reports from international organizations, and scientific studies. This article shows that in the early days of the pandemic, Southeast Asian countries were cut off and failed to build solidarity in the south. Each country only focuses on mitigation at the domestic level, so it is not regionally integrated. The efforts of ASEAN member countries to overcome the impact of the pandemic on migrant workers can only be seen at the end of 2020 with the convening of the 13th ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labor (AFML) and the presence of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework (ACRF). The AFML and ACRF guidelines serve as guidelines and frameworks for transnational mitigation strategies for the recovery of conditions in the Southeast Asian region in the post-COVID era.

Keywords

  • Migrant workers
  • Pandemic COVID-19
  • Mitigation strategies
  • Southeast Asia

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Government Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar, Makassar, Indonesia

    Andi Luhur Prianto & Aqmal Reza Amri

  2. Faculty of Law, University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bitola, North Macedonia

    Goran Ilik

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  1. Andi Luhur Prianto
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  2. Aqmal Reza Amri
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Correspondence to Andi Luhur Prianto .

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  1. Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India

    Hebatallah Adam

  2. Faculty of Management Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa

    Ravinder Rena

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Prianto, A.L., Amri, A.R., Ilik, G. (2023). Governing Migrant Workers Post-COVID-19 in Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Mitigation and Transformative Agenda. In: Adam, H., Rena, R. (eds) Political Economy of Development in the Global South Post-COVID-19 Pandemic. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4074-5_7

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