Support for migrant workers, LGBTI community among issues set out in S’pore report to UN on human rights

• S’pore will participate in its third universal periodic review with the UN Human Rights Council next month
• It submitted its national report to the council in January
• The report covers efforts by the Government to implement recommendations since the last review
• It details how the Government ensured the safety of foreign workers in dormitories last year
• The report also includes efforts to tackle human trafficking and protect the LGBTI community

SINGAPORE — Efforts by the Government to ensure the safety of migrant workers amid Covid-19 outbreaks in dormitories, as their living conditions came under scrutiny, are among the issues set out in Singapore's latest submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 27-page submission, known as a national report, also laid out steps taken by the Government more broadly to improve the lives of migrant workers in Singapore in the last five years.

These include establishing an Employment Claims Tribunal in 2017 for workers with employment disputes, and introducing legislation to double the maximum punishment for those who hurt, assault, sexually assault or wrongfully confine or restrain their foreign domestic workers.

The national report, which takes stock of Singapore’s human rights situation, is the Republic’s submission to the council as part of its upcoming universal periodic review.

The review, to be held on May 12, is a state-driven reporting process reviewing the human rights situation of all 193 UN member states once every five years.

It will be Singapore’s third review after those in 2016 and 2011. While previous reviews took place in Geneva, Switzerland, this year’s will be held via Zoom due to Covid-19.

Besides the national report from the Government, separate reports on Singapore’s human rights are also submitted to the council by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and civil society organisations here.

As part of the review, Singapore’s delegation, headed by Ambassador-at-Large Professor Chan Heng Chee, will take part in a three-hour dialogue with other UN members on May 12 where other members will provide their recommendations on how Singapore can improve its human rights.

Singapore’s latest report, released to the media on Wednesday (March 31) and available on the Human Rights Council’s website, describes the implementation of recommendations that Singapore accepted in the last review and other policy developments since then.

It also lays out the Government’s support for vulnerable communities such as those on low incomes, the elderly and migrant workers, through the Covid-19 pandemic.

MIGRANT WORKERS

The report dedicates six paragraphs detailing the efforts by the Government to care for migrant workers in dormitories during the pandemic, in addition to the section covering the broader steps it has taken on migrant workers.

The issue took the national spotlight last year when tens of thousands of workers living in close quarters in dormitories were infected with Covid-19.

The government efforts included setting up an inter-agency task force to work with dormitory operators and employers to limit the spread of the virus, and extending financial help to employers so that they could continue to pay the salaries of foreign workers even as they remained isolated.

LGBTI COMMUNITY

For the second time, the national report also includes a section on protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

Last year, several LGBTI groups in Singapore such as Sayoni and TransgenderSG submitted a report to the Human Rights Council for the review. In their report, the groups highlighted, among other things, discrimination faced by transgender students in schools.

This issue came to the fore in January this year after several people staged a protest outside the Ministry of Education in response to allegations that the ministry had interfered in a transgender student’s decision to go on hormone replacement therapy.

A section of the latest national report states that Singapore “firmly opposes discrimination and harassment” and has laws in place to protect all citizens from such conduct.

“All Singapore citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, are free to pursue their activities in their private space,” said the report.

The report also highlighted steps by the Government to protect members of the LGBTI community.

For example, the Government amended the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act in 2019 to protect religious and non-religious groups, including those from the LGBTI community, from persons or groups urging violence against them on the grounds of religion.

Mr Leow Yangfa, executive director of Oogachaga, a non-profit that provides counselling and educational services to the LGBT community, said it was greatly encouraged that the Government has, for the second time, openly acknowledged the needs of the LGBTI community in its national report.

He noted, however, that the report states that “all Singapore citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation, are free to pursue their activities in their private space”.

While this may be true in practice, it is not the case under the country's law, owing to the continued existence of Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises consensual sex between men, he said. “The omission of its mention in the report is glaring.”  

Mr Leow noted that in addition to recommending the repeal of Section 377A, various stakeholders have identified other key issues that have an impact on Singapore’s LGBTI citizens.

These include legal gender recognition for transgender persons, the lack of protection from employment discrimination for LGBTI persons, and violence and harassment faced by the community.

“Following the submission of the national report and stakeholder submissions, the next step of the universal periodic review process is for other responsible UN member-states to make specific recommendations on Singapore’s situation at the council session on May 12.

“It is hoped that the Government will not just note, but also accept, these recommendations, all in the best interests of all Singaporeans, including our LGBTI citizens,” he said.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

In a section dedicated to human trafficking, the report states that Singapore has taken “decisive action” to combat trafficking in persons and supporting and protecting victims.

This includes developing a national approach against trafficking in persons in 2016.

As part of this approach, Singapore has a legal framework in the form of the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act to target traffickers operating from overseas.

It also involves protecting victims by providing them with food, shelter, medical care and counselling services.

The issue of human trafficking in Singapore was a hot topic several years ago when the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Report in 2019 found that Singapore did not fully meet the minimum standards required to eliminate human trafficking.

At that time, the Government had come out to refute claims made in the report and said that it misrepresented ground realities.

The US’ latest report last year places Singapore in “Tier 1”, meaning that the country has met the minimum standards to eliminate trafficking.