The IOM and ILO organize a workshop on fair and ethical recruitment of migrant workers

Hosted in Guatemala, the workshop brings together government institutions and entities responsible for statistics and censuses at the national level, as well as experts from IOM and ILO, and employers, workers and civil society organizations.

News | 03 September 2019
 
The Minister of Labour and Social Security, Gabriel Aguilera, at the opening of the workshop
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), are supporting the regional workshop “Governance of labour migration: Fair Recruitment and Prevention of Fraudulent Practices”, which takes place in Guatemala City, from 3 to 5 September, 2019, within the framework of the Regional Conference on Migration (CRM).
 
The workshop brings together government institutions and entities responsible for statistics and censuses at the national level, as well as experts from the IOM and ILO, and employers, workers and civil society organizations. These representatives are participating in technical sessions and keynote talks on different topics, in order to support countries in the use of different instruments for the prevention of fraudulent practices, the protection of workers, and ensuring fair recruitment of migrant workers, such as ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative and the IOM International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS).

Among other topics, the workshop includes a special session on recruitment fees and related costs and on the methodology of data collection for the measurement of recruitment costs, in order to contribute to evidence-based decision making.

This initiative is part of the activities of the strategic alliance between the IOM and the ILO that seeks to contribute to the governance of labour migration in the member countries of the Regional Conference on Migration (CRM). Both organizations have joined forces to support CRM Member Countries in strengthening their governance schemes for labour migration, as well as in promoting fair recruitment policies and practices.

Jorge Peraza, IOM Head Mission for El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras stressed at the opening of the workshop that “for migration to be beneficial for migrants, States and their communities of origin, it is essential to have certain conditions. This implies, among other aspects, addressing challenges related to recruitment and hiring processes, the regularisation of migrant workers, raising awareness among local people to reduce prejudices and stigmas associated with migration in host countries, and improving access to information for employers and migrants, among others”. 

 
Jorge Peraza, IOM Head of Mission, delivering remarks as part of the workshop opening
Maria Gallotti, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO Global Action to Improve the Recruitment Framework of Labour Migration project (REFRAME), financed by the European Union and implemented by the ILO, emphasized that this workshop seeks to contribute to strengthening the capacities of the member countries of the CRM, so that they can guarantee labour migration processes through regular, orderly and safe means, reduce the costs of labour migration, and improve the benefits for migrant workers and their families in the countries of origin and of destiny. Ms Gallotti also highlighted the importance of promoting intra-regional social dialogue on labour migration using the ILO General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment as a tool.

 
Maria Gallotti, Chief Technical Advisor of the ILO REFRAME Project, at the opening ceremony.
With an extensive agenda of activities distributed over three working days, the workshop seeks to motivate participants to exchange information and knowledge about barriers and the main challenges for effective governance of labour migration; share good practices and lessons learned about initiatives that promote effective governance of labour migration and protection of the labour rights of migrant workers; as well as disseminate and promote the use of instruments for the promotion of fair recruitment of migrant workers.

As of 2018, 3.4 per cent of the world’s population are migrants, that is, 258 million people, and they contribute to 9 per cent of the world’s GDP, which represents approximately 7 trillion dollars a year. A significant and growing number of these people migrate in search of decent work opportunities.

According to the ILO, in 2017 there were 164 million migrant workers worldwide, an increase of 9 per cent since 2013. This represents 59.2 percent of all international migrants and 70.1 percent of all migrants of working age. Migrant workers represent 4.7 per cent of all workers in the world.

The activity has the financial contribution of the European Union, through the ILO REFRAME project and the Department of State of the United States, within the framework of the Mesoamerican Program of the IOM.