Webinar, 18 December 2020

Towards well-managed labour migration: Fair recruitment for women and men migrant workers in Malaysia

The ILO is organising a webinar on “Towards well-managed labour migration: Fair recruitment for women and men migrant workers in Malaysia”.

Register here

Background

Over two million women and men migrant workers are employed in Malaysia, making significant financial and social contributions to Malaysia and the countries from which they come. Migrant workers and their families benefit from increased income and knowledge, allowing them to spend more on their needs and make investments. For women migrant workers, higher incomes and greater financial resources can improve their socioeconomic status and provide space to assert their autonomy. In countries of destination such as Malaysia, migrant workers shoulder large shares of work in key sectors such as manufacturing, domestic work, plantations, agriculture and services. They fill labour market gaps, contribute to services and increase government budget through taxes and social security contributions.
The positive contributions of migrant workers can only be ensured if their safety, labour and human rights are fully protected through labour migration governance frameworks. However, recruitment practices that are unfair or unethical can lead to abuses, including forced labour, debt bondage, violence and exploitation. High migration fees and costs, in particular increase a migrant worker’s dependence on and indebtedness to recruitment agents and employers.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aim to address the high levels of migration cost sand fee that migrant workers are paying globally. In 2015 States agreed to work towards well-managed migration, measured in part by a lowered proportion of recruitment costs per monthly income. SDG indicator 10.7.1 is: “Recruitment cost borne by an employee as a proportion of monthly income earned in country of destination.
This webinar, organised in conjunction with International Migrants Day this year, will discuss the opportunities and challenges for working towards the implementation of well-managed labour migration policies and realising fair recruitment for women and men migrant workers in Malaysia.

Agenda
• International Migrants Day Message by a migrant worker
• Presentation on the ILO’s general principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment and definition of recruitment fees and related costs
• Presentation on the findings of migration cost survey of Indonesian and Filipina domestic workers in Malaysia and Indonesian plantation workers in Malaysia

Discussants:
• Employment recruitment agency
• Certification body
• Trade union

This webinar is co-organized by ILO Project “From Protocol to Practice and Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour (Bridge project)”, and the ILO Project “Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region (Safe and Fair project)”.

Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-27592-15-75-K—1. 100 percentage of the total costs of the global Bridge Project is financed with Federal funds, for a total of US$17,395,138. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government.

The Safe and Fair Programme is part of the Spotlight Initiative – a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. Safe and Fair is implemented by the ILO and UN Women, in collaboration with UNODC. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the EU.