Voicesea Podcast

Kakehashi means “bridging the links” in Japanese. Among many initiatives, they published a multi-lingual handbook “Bridging the Gap” designed to provide a practical guide to help young migrants in Japan with navigating various aspects of life in Japan. This book also illustrates real-life stories of individuals who overcame various challenges adopting in Japan. It is a product of a long collective process of the community supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) in Japan, and won the 2021 Migration Advocacy and Media Award in the Philippines, for Best Book on Migration, non-fiction/guide category.

Would you like to know more about the experiences of youth migrants and how they could be guided and supported to thrive as equal members of society? In this episode, Bituin, or Tita Bi, tells us some inspiring life stories of hers that led her to work for young Filipino and mixed-heritage migrants and many youth migrants from other backgrounds, as well as about “Bridging the Gap” and Kakehashi’s work.

You can get a PDF copy of the handbook “Bridging the Gap” by completing this form (available in Tagalog, English and Japanese) https://forms.gle/eX1jBqi6bEQjLs4H6

Short videos of the “Bridging the Gap” are available in
English:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUDDZqjej70zzpgr5KLyip_B

Filipino：
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUBCzW6ZgV_jAx_XSfJ6k_Im

Japanese：
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfWmuk4e7tUD_m4J5fE163vYOHFxykkjb

You can also watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/da5RVEXeq34

Kakehashi - Bridging Cultures, Linking Lives (kakehashi-ph.jp)

This episode is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation

This month marks 3 years since the military coup of February 2021 in Myanmar. There are estimated 130,000 Rohingya people and other Muslims remained in squalid camps in Rakhine State and about a million people in neighbouring Bangladesh. Being one of the most persecuted communities in the world, the Rohyinga people are victims of genocide, and continue to be denied basic human rights including access to adequate food, healthcare and education. The crucial humanitarian assistance for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other marginalized groups in Myanmar are often obstructed, and refugee camps are under highly restrictive control of authorities.

In the dire situation, many Rohingya people have no choice but to take dangerous journeys for survival. Indonesia is one of the destinations for those who flee through the sea. However, a lack of understanding of root causes of the systemic oppressions of Rohingya people is leading to discrimination against them in their new land. Since late 2023, harmful hate narratives against Rohingya people seeking asylum have been heard increasingly in Indonesia.

In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast had an opportunity to talk with Maung Zarni, a scholar of genocide (https://maungzarni.net/en/bio-cv), who explained us the context in which Rohingya people so marginalised and vulnerable that they have no choice but to seek asylum in neighboring countries. We also explore how the coup in 2021 affected conditions faced by the Rohingya communities and changed the perspectives of people in Myanmar towards Rohingya communities. How can solidarity among people of the world advocate for the human rights of victims of genocide, people fleeing political persecution, conflicts, and other human rights violations?

Every year on 21 November, the World Fisheries Day is observed. The ocean-based economy, including fisheries, provides significant numbers of jobs in East and Southeast Asia, where more than 80% of the surface is covered by oceans, being home to more than 31.000 island economies.

In order to improve the rights protection of sea-based workers, the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) was established in 2006. To date, MLC is ratified by the majority of the UN member states with 104 state parties. However, the Convention excluded the workers in the fishing industry leaving them highly vulnerable to labour and other rights violations. To fill the gap in the said convention, Work in Fishing Convention (ILO Convention 188/ILO C188) was adopted in 2007. After 16 years since the adaptation, ILO C188 is ratified by only 21 countries worldwide. Among the countries in East and Southeast Asia, Thailand is the only country in the region that has ratified the convention.

In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast has a conversation with the Deputy Director of Stella Maris Seafarers Center in Thailand, Apinya Tajit. Apinya is one of the key actors in advocating for the rights of seafarers including those working in the fishing industry. With her, we discuss changes the ratification of ILO C188 has brought to fishers in/from Thailand, the problems that still remain, and how important it is for other countries that are not yet state parties to the convention to ratify it. In this episode, Apinya Tajit also shares some recommendations by civil societies following the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Fishers in May 2023.

This episode is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF).

March celebrates International Women's Day (IWD) and Women’s History Month globally for more than 100 years, there are still so many situations that put women in a very vulnerable position to face human rights violation, such as trafficking in person, which affects women (49 percent) and girls (23 percent) as the majority of all reported trafficking in person cases.

In this episode, VOICESEA Podcast had a conversation with Joanna Concepcion, the Chairperson of Migrante International, an organization which are widely known for their advocacy on the rights of migrants around the world, which has led advocacy and campaigns for Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who is also a former migrant domestic worker who was a victim of trafficking in person and sentenced to death penalty.

Johana has just visited Mary Jane during her visit to Indonesia. What are the updates of Mary Jane Veloso's case? Why is she still in prison while the Filipino court already sentenced her recruiter for trafficking in person? And how vulnerable are women, especially women migrant workers, to the trafficking in person and human rights violation and why?

If you are eager to find the answers for these questions, please listen to our conversation in this special episode dedicated to commemorate international women's movement!

This episode is sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF).

The Asia Pacific maritime sector is one of the most influential sectors in the world economy. Southeast Asia, geographically, lies in a strategic position where its seas play a dominant role: more than 80% of the surface area is covered by oceans, being home to more than 31,000 island economies.

The ocean based economy provides significant numbers of jobs in East and Southeast Asia. But, the fact is, workers in the sea-based work place are vulnerable to human rights violations. Even, all of indicators made by ILO about forced labor are experienced by them in their daily works. Deception and coercion play a big role to “discipline” the workers, the debt bondage, got paid less than the minimum wage and also long working hours without overtime pay and sometimes got their salaries unpaid.

Why is that happening? What are the causes? Who are the responsible actors?

If you eager to know the answers, please listen to our conversation with Benni Yusriza, a lecturer of Paramadina University whose works and researches mostly about the sea-based migrant workers, seafarers, and fishers where he addresses the issue of human trafficking and forced labour in the fishing industry in Indonesia and Southeast Asia by combining everyday international relations approach with critical migration studies!

This episode is sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

The year of 2023 will be an important year for Indonesia. The handing over of a hammer from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the closing ceremony of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits on 13 November 2022 symbolized Indonesia is honored to be the Chair of ASEAN this year.

In parallel with that, civil society organizations or CSOs from Cambodia also handed over the holding of ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People Forum (ACSC/APF) 2023 to the representatives of Indonesian CSOs. The ACSC/APF is a forum where civil societies from Southeast Asia countries could share, discuss and make recommendations about situations of human rights and democracy in the region. 

Talking about human rights in the region, actually ASEAN itself has its integral part in ASEAN organizational structure and an overarching institution with overall responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights in ASEAN, called ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

In this episode, through a conversation with Indonesia Representative to AICHR H.E Yuyun Wahyuningrum, we tried to find out what is the importance of Indonesian chairship of ASEAN, how AICHR will use this chairship to give positive impact to situation of human rights and democracy in the region, as well as what is to be done by the civil societies to support the works.

If you eager to know the answers, please listen to the full episodes, only on VOICESEA Podcast!

This episode is sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

In November this year, Indonesia underwent its 4th cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council last November. In this process, where the situation of human rights in Indonesia was reviewed – the Government received recommendations from at least 22 UN member states to either moratorium or abolish death penalty in the country. 

Long before this, the international community had already highlighted the issue of the death penalty in Indonesia. One of the high-profile cases is that of Merry Utami, an Indonesian migrant worker who was framed for carrying narcotics and sentenced to death as a result 21 years ago.

In this episode, Voicesea Podcast had a conversation with Fadiyah Alaydrus, who wrote a story about the case of Merry Utami  from a perspective of her daughter through BEBESEA Story Fellowship.  She discussed about the multi-layered suffering faced by death row convicts including the vulnerability of migrant workers facing the death penalty, and how the impact is felt by not only Merry Utami but also her family. 

To read her story (in Bahasa Indonesia) visit - https://bebesea.org/2022/02/perempuan-pekerja-migran-dan-perangkap-narkotika-berujung-eksekusi-mati-ditulis-oleh-fadiyah-alaidrus/

This episode is sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.