Features

2009

1. 

   Labour migration

   Facing the global jobs crisis: Migrant workers, a population at risk

   13 August 2009

   The global economic crisis is posing new challenges for the world's 100 million migrant workers. They may face reduced employment and migration opportunities, worsening living and working conditions and increasing xenophobia. Although no massive return of migrant workers has been observed so far, the crisis is having repercussions on their earnings and the remittances they send home. Ibrahim Awad, Director of the International Migration Programme at the International Labour Office, published a new study entitled "The global economic crisis and migrant workers: Impact and response". Interview with ILO Online.

2. 

   World Day against Child Labour 2009

   Migrant working girls, victims of the global crisis

   10 June 2009

   More than 100 million girls are involved in child labour worldwide, according to a new ILO report for World Day against Child Labour 2009. The report warns that the global financial crisis could push an increasing number of children, particularly girls, into child labour. ILO Online reports from Moscow where migrant workers and their children are the first to be hit by the crisis.

3. Monitoring the impact of the crisis

   The global economic crisis and the impact on migrant workers

   02 April 2009

   The impact of the downturn in global economic activity on migrant workers is likely to be different depending on their distribution among economic sectors most likely to be affected by the crisis.

2008

1. 

   Internal migration

   ILO, China launch first HIV/AIDS prevention campaign for internal rural migrant workers

   17 December 2008

   The 200 million internal migrant workers in China play a vital role in the country’s mining, construction, and transportation sectors. But the lack of awareness about HIV puts them at risk of contracting the disease. Last November, the ILO and China’s State Council AIDS Committee Office jointly launched the country’s first HIV/AIDS prevention campaign for internal rural migrant workers. ILO Online reports from Beijing.

2. 

   International Migrants Day (18 December)

   Migrants in times of economic crisis: ILO/UNDP join forces to make Tajik migration safe

   16 December 2008

   Tajikistan is the poorest of the Central Asian republics and a huge supplier of migrants: 800 000 of its 7 million inhabitants, most of them men, are working abroad. While many migrants are already at risk of all kinds of abuse, they may also become the first victims of the current financial and economic crisis. ILO and UNDP have joined forces to empower migrant communities and make migration safe. Olga Bogdanova from the ILO Moscow office reports from the Tajik capital Dushanbe.

3. 

   Migration and development

   Women migrant workers: seizing opportunities, upholding rights

   24 September 2008

   Nearly half of the world’s migrants are women. Increasingly, migration provides them with opportunities to find better jobs. However, many still accept lower skilled jobs for higher pay and some may even become victims of exploitation and abuse. In partnership with the ILO, UN agencies and NGOs, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women is holding the International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development in Manila on 25-26 September to focus on the issue. ILO migration specialist Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin speaks about the link between migration, gender equality and development.

2006

1. Article

   International Migrants Day (18 December 2006) Reversing the brain drain in China: the return of the 'sea turtles'

   11 December 2006

   As China's economy continues to grow exponentially, the country faces a shortage of locally educated managers with international experience. But more and more Chinese who previously left the country to study abroad are heading back to the land of opportunities, according to a recent article in the ILO's International Labour Review ( Note 1).

2. 

   Article

   Giving a fair deal to the world's 86 million migrant workers

   23 May 2006

   Across the world, millions of people are on the move - doing jobs ranging from manual labour such as harvesting to high-skilled computer programming. Combined, their numbers with their dependents would equal the fifth most populous country on the planet. And their numbers are likely to increase, according to the ILO.

3. 

   Article

   "Maid in Lebanon": protecting the rights of migrant domestic workers

   13 April 2006

   Driven by extreme poverty in their home countries, thousands of female migrant workers go each year to the Arab States in order to earn enough money to support their families. What they find there is sometimes not what they expected. , a film directed by Carol Mansour and funded by Caritas Sweden, the Netherlands Embassy in Beirut and the ILO depicts the gamble these women take when they decide to leave their families and go to work in Lebanon.

4. 

   Article

   Labour migration in the twenty-first century: E Pluribus, Unum?

   10 March 2006

   The world's 90 million migrant workers constitute 3 per cent of the global workforce, and migrant experiences range from red carpet welcomes for some computer programmers to detention and deportation for some apprehended unauthorized workers. What can be done to ensure that international labour migration is a force for global betterment? A recent study, co-authored by two ILO experts presents a comprehensive analysis of the causes and effects of labour migration.