Regional Symposium on Deployment of Workers Overseas: A Shared Responsibility

Aims and expected outcomes of the meeting

The Symposium contributes to the attainment of the national action priorities identified in the Fourteenth Asian Regional Meeting held in 2006 in Busan, Republic of Korea, specifically the one on improving dialogue and the management of labour migration so as to benefit both sending and receiving countries and better protect the rights and equal treatment of migrant workers.

The Symposium aims for the following:

• Discuss labour migration policies in the region, particularly on recruitment, the scope for state policies, private sector initiatives to influence practices and their outcomes, and their impact on cost of migration and on conditions of employment;
• Exchange and share best practices on equipping workers with skills for work in foreign countries, attending to their needs for various on-site services, monitoring their conditions, and responding to emergencies;
• Discuss cooperation mechanisms between origin and destination countries with a view to providing more effective protection for migrant workers.

The Symposium addressed the following topics in separate sessions:

• Recent developments in labour migration policies as it relates to the ILO Multilateral Framework on Migration;
• Fair recruitment practices for safe and regular migration;
• Promoting safe migration for women;
• Migration infrastructures and effective services to migrants;
• Emerging demand for labour and skills development;
• Cooperation mechanisms between origin and destination countries.

Ultimately the Symposium hopes to help facilitate the development of more effective and efficient migration management systems in labour sending countries that promote safe and regular labour migration, and contribute to further development of recruitment practices and labour migration management in South Asia.

This symposium was organized with the Bangladesh Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment in close collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the ILO/EU Asian Programme on the Governance of Labour Migration.

Contact:

Ms. Sachiko Yamamoto, Regional Director
Email: bangkok@ilo.org, Tel: +66 2 288 2295

Ms. Panudda Boonpala, Director, ILO Office in Bangladesh
Email: boonpala@ilodhaka.org, Tel: +880 2 911 2907