Labour migration in Southern and Eastern Africa
Overview:
- Labour migration has been part of the ILO mandate since its inception. ILO’s Constitution of 1919 calls for the “protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own.” At the global level, the ILO is promoting the rights of migrant workers through its body of standards, including the ILO fundamental rights conventions , the ILO Conventions No. 97 and 143 on the protection of migrant workers and the governance of labour migration, and accompanying Recommendations No. 86 and 151 , as well as through its Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration.
- In line with ILO constituents’ needs and requests reaffirmed during the ILO Tripartite Technical Meeting on Labour Migration in November 2013, ILO’s work on labour migration in Africa is becoming more prominent and moving from a scattered approach to a more coherent, strategic, and sustainable one;
- The ILO Director General’s report “Setting an ILO Agenda for fair migration” and the ILO’s position as the chair of the Global Migration Group in 2014 are indicative of ILO’s leadership on labour migration issues have reasserted the ILO's strong interest in labour migration (see ILO Fair Migration Agenda : Setting an ILO Agenda 2014);
- ILO’s work on labour migration in Africa is at three levels: regional, sub regional (with Regional Economic Communities) and country level;
- The ILO is supporting the implementation of the labour migration component of the AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa. The ILO, IOM and UNECA led by the AUC have developed a regional programme on Labour Migration Governance Development and Integration in Africa, in cooperation with Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs). This programme is entitled:- Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP). The 24th Session of the African Union Assembly January 2015) adopted the AUC/ILO/IOM/ECA Joint Labour Migration Programme. This joint programme also supports the implementation of the AU 2015 Declaration and Plan of Action on Employment Creation, Poverty Eradication and Inclusive Development;
- In southern and eastern Africa, in addition to the frameworks referred to above, ILO works in the framework of the SADC 2013-2015 Action Plan on Labour Migration, SADC 2014 Labour Migration Policy Framework, and Article 19 (Migrant workers) of the SADC 2014 Employment and Labour Protocol; and the EAC Protocol on Free Movement. ILO's activities on labour migration focus on policy development, social dialogue, and workers' and employers' education and are embedded in international, regional and sub-regional frameworks. Related activities deal with improving labour migration statistical data, social protection, and skills recognition.
Events
2015
- 28 September - 1 October 2015: Regional tripartite workshop on the promotion of decent work for migrant workers: Governance and integration dimensions, African Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC);
- 18-19 September 2015: Training workshop on labour migration and trade unions at the request of the Commission des Syndicats de Travailleurs de l’Océan Indien (CSTOI);
- 7 September 2015: Special Session on Labour Migration and Regional Integration, ILERA Congress;
- 17-18 July 2015: Labour Migration Information Sharing Session;
- 17-18 June 2015: Training on migration instruments and General Survey Report and Labour Migration Information Sharing Session;
- 23-25 March 2015: Roundtable on Intra-regional migration and labour mobility within Africa; AUC-IOM-ILO initiative, Kigali;
- 5-7 March 2015: SADSAWU, DITSELA ( a support organisation working with COSATU, vulnerable sector task team, to provide capacity support to SADSAWU) ILO workshop, Johannesburg (coordinated by Inviolata Chuinyagarara)
- 18 February 2015: African Union Commission - ILO - IOM - UNECA information session on the Joint Labour Migration Programme, Addis Ababa
- 12-13 February 2015: SADC Technical sub-committee meeting, Employment and Labour Sector, Gaborone, Botswana. Advancement of the SADC Action Plan and Labour Migration Policy Framework. WIth technical support form the ILO.
2014
- 3-4 December 2014: Inviolata Chinyagarara and Aurelia Segatti, Presentations on Standards and MiWORC findings to COSATU Task Team on Vulnerable Workers – Workshop on Organising Migrant Workers, Johannesburg;
- 6 December 2014: Aurelia Segatti , Presentation on Integration of Migrant Workers at World Social Forum on Migration, Plenary Session, Johannesburg;
- 6-7 December 2014: Inviolata Chinyagarara and Aurelia Segatti, Presentation on Migrant Domestic Workers and International Labour Standards: Global and National Trends, South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union, Workshop on Organising Migrant Domestic Workers, Johannesburg;
- See MiWORC events: www.miworc.org.za
Resources
Policy documents
- ILO Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration
- Fair migration: Setting an ILO agenda
- Migration Policy Framework for Africa
- SADC: Labour Migration policy
- SADC: Protocol on Employment and Labour
- SADC: Decent Work Programme
Publications
- MiWORC Fact Sheet 1 - Labour migration by numbers: South Africa’s foreign and domestic migration data
- MiWORC Policy Brief 1 - A region without borders? Policy Frameworks for regional labour migration towards South Africa
- MiWORC Policy Brief 2 - Migration and employment in South Africa Statistical and econometric analyses of internal and international migrants in Statistics South Africa’s labour market data
- MiWORC Report 1 - A region without borders? Policy frameworks for regional labour migration towards South Africa
- MiWORC Report 2 - Improving the quality of available statistics on foreign labour in South Africa: Existing data-sets
- MiWORC Report 3 - Improving the quality of available statistics on foreign labour in South Africa: Strategic recommendations
- MiWORC Report 4 - Improving the quality of available statistics on foreign labour in South Africa: Suggestions for a Quarterly Labour Force Survey migration module and municipal-level surveys
- MiWORC Report 5 - Migration and employment in South Africa: Statistical analysis of the migration module in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, third quarter 2012
- MiWORC Report 6 - Migration and employment in South Africa: An econometric analysis of domestic and international migrants (QLFS (Q3) 2012)