Legal Empowerment

  • Migrant communities often face significant barriers in accessing legal assistance. There is a considerable gap between these communities and the legal resources they need – whether in their countries of origin or destination. Legal help is often scarce, lawyers remain out of reach, and formal legal aid is frequently unavailable.  

    We believe true empowerment must come from within migrant communities themselves. For far too long, external actors have spoken on behalf of migrant workers, inadvertently limiting their autonomy and agency. Centring the voices and leadership of migrants is essential to breaking down barriers and enabling genuine self-advocacy. When workers are empowered to speak for themselves and support one another, they become agents of their own change.  
     
    This peer-led approach not only equips individuals with knowledge and confidence but also builds resilient networks that enable migrant worker communities to navigate challenges collectively. 

  • Community Peer Advocate Programme: We collaborate with regional partners to develop and implement peer-led programmes that train worker representatives, grassroots advocates, and women leaders in foundational legal knowledge and practical skills.  These include negotiation, organising, education, evidence documentation and advocacy. Through this programme, participants gain the tools to protect their rights, advocate for fair treatment, and provide both legal and community support to their peers.  

    • Through this programme, we trained 145 outbound female migrant workers and leaders in Indonesia and the Philippines in legal rights and advocacy in 2023-2024. Forty-five women migrated to work in countries of destination, and with support from our civil society organisation partners, these advocates have provided crucial assistance to their peers. This effort has strengthened migrant communities’ capacity for self-advocacy and protection, enabling them to better navigate challenges and assert their rights. 

    • We developed a practical online tool – Remedy Route – to help migrant domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines and their advocates to navigate legal pathways and support services to access remedies.  

    Civil Society Training Programme: We develop targeted training workshops and support our regional civil society organisation partners in training lawyers and paralegals who work with grassroots communities in Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines to improve access to justice and remedy.  

    • Our previous trainings included topics covering legal knowledge and soft skills, such as business and human rights, open-source and financial investigations, digital security, advocacy, and communication. These training programmes aimed to equip CSO practitioners with the diverse skills needed to effectively support and empower migrant communities. 

    • We developed an online training programme – TraffickTrace – to build the capacity of civil society actors, civil party lawyers, and public interest lawyers in Asia to gather evidence and conduct investigations to support criminal prosecutions and civil legal actions in connection with trafficking in persons cases.