UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW)
Half Day General Discussion on “Workplace Exploitation and Workplace Protection”
7 April 2014, Geneva

Ethical labour recruitment as the pathway for social protection of migrant workers

By: Cathy Nguyen, Policy Associate International Catholic Migration Commission

Thank you Chair, ICMC would like to thank the Committee on Migrant Workers for this General Discussion. Our organization and our members have been delighted to work with the Committee over the years, including so closely on General Comment No. 1, which presented rights-based solutions to exploitation of migrant domestic workers.

The first panel today discussed the myriad of abuses that occur in the workplace—sadly well known and documented—and now, we would like to raise two points on workplace protection:

Much exploitation in the workplace stems from fraudulent labour recruitment practices: an area which has gained a lot of momentum in international discussions of late—with strong convergence among states, international organizations and civil society at the recent High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development where the reform of migrant recruitment practices was point 7 of global civil society’s 5-year 8-point plan. (Copies of the plan are on the side table here.) Article 66 of the Migrant Workers’ Convention pertains specifically to ending illegal or clandestine recruitment, and we believe that partnerships which meaningfully engage migrant workers, as well as other civil society practitioners, together with states and international actors are essential to tackling this issue.

Global civil society—including migrant and diaspora organizations and trade unions—is ready and active in finding solutions that improve working conditions for migrant workers. We note that the Committee’s inaugural day of General Discussion in 2005 had migration and development as its theme. Ten years later, it is clear that human rights for migrants and worker protections belong in the world’s next set of MDGs as well as in all development agendas. In fact, a blueprint outlining civil society perspectives on migrants and migration in development agendas is currently in final global drafting. (A snapshot of this document is also available.)

In Goal 1 of the blueprint, “Create jobs, sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth”, there are three targets related to migration and workplace protection:

1. Create and preserve decent work opportunities with social protection in countries of origin to make migration and re-migration an option instead of a necessity
2. Ensure portability of skills and benefits
3. Ensure that migrants enjoy decent working conditions and social protection that conform to international human rights and labour standards

Among the important indicators for these targets, civil society seeks a measured increase in the number of:
• Migrants enjoying equal wages for equal work, relative to nationals
• Laws that allow migrant workers—including seasonal and temporary workers and domestic workers—to change employers on equal terms with nationals
• Bilateral, regional and multilateral agreements including measures that license and monitor labour brokers, recruiters and intermediaries, with due process for complaints and enforceable penalties in cases of exploitation
• Countries that specifically ban the charging of migrant workers for recruitment fees
• (And) countries where migrants, regardless of immigration status, can exercise the right to form and participate in trade unions and other worker associations

ICMC and our partners in civil society are moving ahead with these goals, targets and indicators, and we welcome the collaboration with governments and international agencies in this endeavor.

Thank you.