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Key Text Towards a Fair Deal for Migrant Workers in the Global Economy

Author: International Labour Organisation
Date: 2004
Size: 210 pages (1.6 MB)

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Summary

Economic, political and demographic factors are causing increasing labour migration and associated pressures. How can this be better managed to protect human rights, maximise growth and development, and prevent clandestine flows and trafficking? This International Labour Organisation report draws lessons from the experience of both origin and host countries in managing migration to improve the treatment and conditions of migrant workers and their families. It aims to provide a basis for formulating sound recommendations for future action.

Migration has historically been beneficial to most migrants as well as countries of destination and origin. However, efforts to build an acceptable multilateral framework for regulating movements to ensure mutual benefits have so far seen little success. Unless the international community acts, irregular migration (including smuggling and trafficking) is likely to increase, with worrisome implications for the protection of migrant workers' rights.

For developing countries, migration can bring important remittances, including investment for job creation, as well as new technologies and ideas. This can combine to form an important new export industry, such as the Indian IT sector. In host countries, migrants have only slight negative effects on the wages of nationals, and usually pay more in taxes than they receive in tax-supported services.
Along with raising labour productivity and increasing labour force participation, developed countries will have to consider more immigration due to their ageing populations. Promoting consensus on these long-term issues is clearly the task of responsible political leadership, since immigration always imposes social adaptation.
As temporary workers, migrants often have limited legal rights. Most can only find low-wage employment in the highly competitive end of global production chains. Flexible employment relationships, gender discrimination and abuses in recruitment compound these disadvantages.
The ILO's body of standards, especially Conventions 97 and 143, contain the principles to protect migrant workers. These cover the agriculture, construction, hotel and restaurant sectors, which traditionally employ many migrants. However, protection is inadequate for those in an irregular situation and for vulnerable categories such as domestic workers, many of them women.

Governments have a responsibility to comply with the equal treatment pledges in their constitutions and international treaties. Much needs to be done to protect those liable to abusive situations and to minimize exploitation, forced labour, smuggling, and trafficking.

Responses have to be comprehensive and multi-pronged, based on international norms and an understanding of economic forces at play. A framework to improve conditions will include multilateral or inter-state cooperation, good governance, labour market regulation, joint liability of subcontractors and enterprises or employers, appropriate laws and their enforcement, and effective mobilization of social partners.

Omissions in the current standards could be addressed by complementary instruments in the field of migration, such as a protocol or guidelines. Existing instruments could be promoted alongside expansion of technical cooperation activities. This will require a review of the adequacy of resources devoted to the ILO's International Migration Programme.

Since migration directly affects the interests of workers and employers, achieving broad social consensus can be facilitated by establishing tripartite bodies to assist governments in formulating and implementing labour migration policy.

Managing migration is inherently a multilateral issue. Today's global scale of migration flows requires countries to look to partnerships overseas, through bilateral and multilateral agreements and treaties.

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Source: International Labour Organisation, 2004, ‘Towards a Fair Deal for Migrant Workers in the Global Economy’, International Labour Conference 92nd Session, ILO, Geneva
Author: International Labour Organisation, http://www.ilo.org/