Andy Hall - Migrant Workers Rights Specialist

Latest Blog Posts

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Fundraise for Andy Hall to Overturn Unjust Conviction for Whistleblowing: Qatar

Why Human Rights Matter to Business?

Risky Business with Darian McBain: Asia

15th January 2024

Why Human Rights Matter to Business with Darian McBain - Interview with Andy Hall - Migrant Worker Rights Specialist

Why Human Rights Matter to Business with Darian McBain – Interview with Andy Hall – Migrant Worker Rights Specialist

Asian business is changing. Customer demands, government regulations, stakeholder expectations, they are all evolving under the pressure of the environmental crisis. And even the most robust business models are starting to show cracks. But it’s through those cracks that opportunities arrive.

Do you know how to navigate this new normal?

Andy Hall is a human rights defender, a researcher/investigator and activist, and an independent specialist on migrant worker rights.

In this episode of Risky Business, Andy talks about how he uncovered – and helped to tackle – the problem of labour rights abuses in Malaysia’s latex glove industry.

Click HERE to listen 

Cover for Andy Hall
1,394
Andy Hall

Andy Hall

Andy Hall is a British human rights defender and a migrant worker specialist working in Asia, Middle East and the Gulf

Andy Hall

17 hours ago

Andy Hall
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐖𝐂𝐌𝐒 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬; 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲Day 1: The Lie On 23 April 2026, the law firm Lui & Bhullar issued a press statement on behalf of Bestinet, defending the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) and its associated concession agreement. That statement made bold claims of international recognition and institutional endorsement.Those claims have now been publicly contradicted; not by political opponents, but by the very international bodies Bestinet cited.We therefore, call on the Malaysian government to immediately suspend and conduct an independent review of the FWCMS concession agreement. The evidence set out below makes clear that this deal was built on misrepresentations and approved without adequate scrutiny.1.⁠ ⁠The UN-recognised claim is falseBestinet’s lawyers declared FWCMS to be a “government-approved, UN-recognised platform.” This claim is demonstrably false.The International Labour Organisation has now issued a formal public statement clarifying that the award cited by Bestinet - the World Summit Award (WSA) - is not a United Nations award. The WSA is an activity of the International Center for New Media, a private non-profit organisation. While it was initiated within the context of a UN event, the ILO has stated plainly that the award “does not imply UN recognition.”Bestinet’s lawyers knew, or ought to have known, the difference between winning an award aligned with UN goals and receiving formal UN recognition. These are not the same thing. The conflation, whether deliberate or reckless, misled the public and, more critically, may have misled the government itself.2.⁠ ⁠The ILO did not recommend FWCMSBestinet’s statement claims the system was “recommended by the International Labour Organisation.” The ILO has now corrected this directly.In its public statement, the ILO clarified that it provided preliminary comments in 2013 following a briefing on Bestinet’s proposal at the concept stage, before any implementation. The ILO’s own words from that 2013 briefing are unambiguous: “The ILO does not know of the credentials or competence of Bestinet to carry out the proposed system, and these comments should not be construed as an endorsement of the company.”The ILO has further clarified that those 2013 comments cannot be taken as applying to any subsequent implementation, although it found the Bestinet proposal “to be well-presented, innovative, comprehensive and demonstrate a good understanding of some of the challenges faced in the effective management of labour migration.”A courtesy briefing at proposal stage, accompanied by an explicit non-endorsement, has been marketed for over a decade as an ILO recommendation. It was not. It is not.Charles Santiago Tomorrow: Special Branch, Malaysia’s elite intelligence unit, was apparently also recruited to endorse a private company’s government contract. We have questions. ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Andy Hall

17 hours ago

Andy Hall
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐖𝐂𝐌𝐒 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬; 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟐: 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡, 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝. Yesterday we established that Bestinet’s claims of UN recognition and ILO endorsement have been publicly contradicted by the ILO itself. Today, two more questions demand answers.3.⁠ ⁠Special Branch has no business recommending private companies Bestinet’s lawyers state that the system was “recommended by Special Branch, Malaysia.” This claim raises serious constitutional and institutional questions that have gone completely unanswered.Special Branch is Malaysia’s elite domestic intelligence and counter-terrorism unit. Its mandate is national security and not commercial due diligence, not technology procurement, and not the endorsement of private companies bidding for government contracts.We demand answers to the following:•⁠ ⁠When did Special Branch make this recommendation?•⁠ ⁠Who requested it, and under what legal authority?•⁠ ⁠Was it documented and does that documentation exist in the procurement file?•⁠ ⁠Was the recommendation solicited and if so, by whom and why?The invocation of Special Branch in a commercial context is either a serious institutional irregularity or a deliberate attempt to silence scrutiny by implying national security sensitivity. Either way, the public deserves an explanation.4.⁠ ⁠Did the government verify these claims before signing? The 2024 concession agreement formalising FWCMS was the culmination of years of government engagement. Bestinet’s marketing, to the public, and presumably to government repeatedly invoked ILO recommendations and UN recognition as pillars of legitimacy.We ask the minister, Ramanan Ramakrishnan, directly: Did your ministry or any relevant agency verify these claims with the ILO, IOM or the United Nations before signing the concession agreement?If the answer is no, if billions of ringgit in contractual commitments were made on the basis of representations that were never verified, that is a catastrophic due diligence failure.If the answer is yes and officials verified and proceeded despite knowing these claims were overstated that demands an even more serious accounting.Charles Santiago Tomorrow: Who benefits from FWCMS and who actually pays? ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Andy Hall

17 hours ago

Andy Hall
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐅𝐖𝐂𝐌𝐒 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝: 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬; 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟑: 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲. 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧Over the past two days we have established that Bestinet’s claims of UN recognition and ILO endorsement are false, that Special Branch was apparently enlisted to legitimise a commercial contract, and that the minister has yet to explain whether anyone verified a single one of these representations before signing.Today, the final question: who benefits, and who pays?5.⁠ ⁠Who benefits. Who pays? The law firm’s statement dismisses all critics as “parties whose interests depend on a return to fraud, trafficking and exploitation.” This is a familiar deflection. Attack the messenger. Impugn the motives. Avoid the substance.Let us be clear about the substance:•⁠ ⁠FWCMS is a privately built, profit-generating system awarded a formal concession by the Malaysian Government in 2024.•⁠ ⁠Fees flow through this system for every foreign worker managed within it - a population numbering in the millions.•⁠ ⁠The system was built without public funding, which means the returns on that private investment flow back to Bestinet and not to the Malaysian public.•⁠ ⁠Those costs are ultimately borne by employers, workers, and the sending countries, many of them among the most vulnerable people in the regional labour ecosystem.In May 2024, the ILO, IOM and UNODC jointly raised concerns about Bangladeshi workers arriving in Malaysia with valid work permits only to find the promised jobs did not exist. This occurred under the FWCMS era. A system that claims to have eliminated exploitation failed to prevent a documented humanitarian crisis.The concession agreement commits Malaysia to this system for years to come. The public has never seen the financial terms. Parliament has not scrutinised the contract. No independent audit of FWCMS performance against its stated goals of eliminating trafficking and exploitation has been made public.6.⁠ ⁠Our demand: shelve the concession; open the book. We call for the following:a) Immediate suspension of the FWCMS concession agreement pending an independent review.b) Full public disclosure of the financial terms of the 2024 concession agreement.c) Parliamentary scrutiny of all government decisions relating to FWCMS from 2012 to date.d) A formal explanation from the government on whether the ILO, IOM and UN claims made by Bestinet were verified prior to contract execution.e) Clarity on Special Branch’s role including tabling of any documentation related to their alleged recommendation.f) An independent performance audit of FWCMS against its stated objectives, including its record on preventing trafficking, debt bondage and worker exploitation.Malaysia does not need a system whose legitimacy rests on misrepresented international endorsements, unverifiable security agency recommendations and contractual secrecy.If FWCMS is as transformative and as transparent as its architects claim, they should welcome independent scrutiny. The fact that critics are met with legal threats rather than open evidence speaks for itself.Charles Santiago ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Andy Hall

2 days ago

Andy Hall

Video

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Andy Hall

2 days ago

Andy Hall

Video

View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Have a tip off about migrant forced labour in a global supply chain? Want to chat? Any feedback? Don't hesitate to contact me here!

Follow my journey on the social links below

Facebook Twitter Linkedin

A Discussion with Andy Hall About his Work and Life - February 2022

Please support our work via Paypal and help in protecting migrant workers rights

Andy Hall's Work in Action

Scroll to Top