Critics dismiss Asean plan for free movement of labor... "DESPITE the high-minded ideals of the Asean Vision 2020 plan launched more than a decade ago by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), cynics continue to dismiss its aim of labor mobility in a ?community of caring societies” as just so much humbug. A Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, signed by Asean leaders in January 2007, ?mandates Asean countries to promote fair and appropriate employment protection, payment of wages and adequate access to decent working and living conditions for migrant workers.” A migrant worker holds his document during a raid by Malaysian civilian volunteers and immigration officers on a construction site in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. (Photo: AP) In reality, the millions of desperate migrants who hope to escape poverty and repression in their home countries, including Burma, by migrating to Thailand and Malaysia find anything but these conditions..."