International labour standards resources

Training Programme on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons for Recruitment Agents

28 May 2012

This Programme will be conducted for 75 Recruitment Agents in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). The rationale for the Programme is that Recruitment Agents are in a position to raise awareness on the legal channels of migrating for foreign employment and thereby minimize the vulnerability to trafficking. The Sessions will include topics such as ‘Introduction to Trafficking in Persons – International & National Standards, Trafficking for Labour Exploitation, Complaints mechanism, Identification of Victims and offenders, Kafala system and the potential for abuse.

Training Programme on Trafficking in Persons for Immigration Officers

22 May 2012

This Programme will be conducted for 100 Immigration Officers based at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Sessions will include, Investigations to identify trafficking offenders & victims, channeling cases to the relevant law enforcement authorities, Foreign Employment and the legal recruitment process, International & National laws on Trafficking in Persons, Identification of forged documentation, Child Trafficking.

Training Programme on Prevention of Trafficking in Persons for Airport Taxi Drivers, Cab Drivers, 3 wheeler taxi drivers

15 May 2012

Three Training Programmes will be conducted for 100 Airport Taxi Drivers, 100 Taxi Cab Drivers, and 100 3 Wheeler drivers. The rationale being that taxi drivers, by virtue of their vocation may come into contact with victims and offenders of human trafficking, and as such are in an ideal position to report such cases to the law enforcement authorities. The Training Programme will include the following sessions; What is Human Trafficking- trafficking for labour exploitation, commercial sexual exploitation etc. , National laws and penalties for the offence of trafficking, Trauma & Psychological impact on victims, Investigation and reporting of cases, Legal Recruitment processes & Foreign Employment.

Training Programme for conciliators of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment for effective prevention and settlement of disputes pertaining to migrant workers

08 March 2012

Grievances of the migrant workers are mainly handled in Sri Lanka by the Conciliation Division of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment which has 16 conciliation officers located in the SLBFE and in regional centers island-wide. In addition several other government and non-governmental organizations including recruitment agencies are involved in receiving complaints from the migrant workers in Sri Lanka, which channel the complaints to the Conciliation division of the SLBFE. Key issues concerning grievance handling mechanisms include delays, lack of access despite the availability of officers, lack of knowledge among migrant workers and their families on available mechanisms and duplication of services due to the lack of coordination between the institutions involved in handling grievances. ILO undertook as a part of the project, to map out the available grievance mechanisms with the objective of creating a centralized national grievance handling mechanism to ensure the protection and empowerment of migrant workers and their families. The report has highlighted a number of institutional problems. Whilst focusing on creating a centralized grievance handling mechanism, it is paramount that the Conciliation division of the SLBFE which is mandated to handle migrant worker’s grievances in Sri Lanka in strengthened. In this background, in close consultation with the SLBFE and the Ministry, the ILO seeks to support the design and implementation of a long term capacity building programme for Conciliation officers of the SLBFE. The first phase of the training of the training will take place from 8-10th March 2012 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

National consultation on reviews of mechanisms that address migrant worker grievances in Sri Lanka and in Labour Receiving Countries

13 February 2012

In 2011,the ILO country office commissioned two studies to review grievance redress mechanism available to Sri Lankan migrant workers within Sri Lanka and countries of employment. The aim of commissioning these reviews were to support the improvement of the current systems of migrant worker grievance handling mechanisms. The objective of the National consultation is to share the findings of both reviews and to obtain stakeholder views and comments on the findings, conclusions and recommendations in each report.This forum will be the foundation for the next phase of this initiative which includes a meeting of the diplomatic missions in the Labour receiving countries and the formulation of a new operational framework for diplomatic missions in addressing migrant worker issues.

ILO Capacity Building Programme: Working with UN. Workers and Employers contribution to Achieving Decent Work in a changing regional environment

20 October 2011

The Regional Unit for Partnerships is supporting Geneva colleagues (EXREL, PARDEV and INTEGRATION) to respond effectively to the requests of the Governing Body (TC committee) to assist workers and employers organisations to increase institutional capacity to mainstream decent work into UN processes, with a special focus on social partners participation into DWCPs and UNDAFs. This workshop is part of a series of bi-partite training for social partners - similar workshops took place in the Africa and the Americas region in 2010, and the Arab region in 2011

Subregional Seminar on "Strengthening the Labour Movement to Achieve Decent Work"

18 October 2011

Employers Organizations: Enhanced effectiveness in membership promotion,retention, lobbying, services and sharing of policies,services on labour-trade issues

04 October 2011

The workshop is organized by International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin and the Dutch Employers Cooperation Programme (DECP) in collaboration with Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT-EMP) in Geneva and the support of the ILO Offices in New delhi and Sri Lanka to strengthen the employers’ organizations to perform more effectively by increasing the skills of key personnel and their capacity to boost the effectiveness of EOs in South Asia by sharing of practices on membership promotion /retention, services, lobbying in general, and with specific reference to lobbying/services on labour related issues in trade.

Residential Programme on the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons in Sri Lanka for State Counsel

16 September 2011

The application of international conventions including human rights instruments and ILO conventions are important tools in the development of national legislation criminal legislation on the prevention of human trafficking. Cognizant of the importance of applying such standards in the prosecution of such cases, the International Labour Organization (ILO) together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) organized a Residential Training Programme for the State Prosecutors of the Attorney General’s Department in Sri Lanka.

Towards a Better Governance of Labour Migration: Global Trends and National Realities"

01 September 2011

ILO in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare is organizing a seminar on "Towards a better governance of labour migration". This seminar will contribute towards enhancing their understanding of issues relating to the overall migration process (Global, Regional trends), the Normative Framework, and the National Policy on Migration.