Migration and development

The human desire to seek decent employment and livelihoods is at the core of the migration-development nexus. As more people cross borders to work in the coming years, fair and effective migration policies that protect the rights of migrant workers and reduce the costs of labour migration will be essential for achieving economic growth and enhancing development outcomes for migrant workers and their families, and for countries of origin and destination. The ILO works with governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations to improve labour migration policies that can achieve more equitable development with a focus on the needs of working men and women who generate the benefits towards development and who support their families and communities in countries of origin and destination.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, provides for a strong link between decent work and migration in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, which contains target 8:8:

“Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment.”

Other important targets relating to labour migration are found in SDG 10 on reducing inequality within and among countries: “facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies” (target 10.7) and “by 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent” (target 10.c).

As observed by Sandra Polaski, ILO Deputy Director-General:

“Achieving these targets will require stepped up actions within both origin and destination countries and cross-border collaboration at both bilateral and multilateral levels.

These include more effective labour laws and regulation of migrant labour practices in destination countries and institutions to enforce them, including in relevant languages and with protection against retaliation and deportation. Special attention must be given to those workers most at risk, such as migrant domestic workers; [and]

Establishing fair recruitment mechanisms including effective monitoring and oversight at national level, through bilateral or plurilateral agreements among countries in migration corridors and at multilateral level.

These agreements could include, for example, provisions requiring that the employer and not the migrant worker pays for recruitment frees. ILO’s international standards on this issue require that recruitment fees or costs should not be charged to migrant workers, directly or indirectly.”


Remarks at the EU Presidency of Luxembourg and World Bank Conference on Migration and the Global Development Agenda, World Bank, Washington, D.C., 9 December 2015.

The ILO is providing strategic input to the work of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) of the UN Statistical Commission, composed of UN member States and including regional and international agencies as observers, which is developing a global indicator framework to measure the SDG targets. In early 2015, the ILO also prepared a paper on Promoting decent work for migrant workers, in which some possible tentative indicators are discussed.

Recognition of human mobility as a key factor for sustainable development is also underscored in the Declaration of the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development adopted by the UN General Assembly at the Second High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, held in New York in October 2013. Much of the ILO’s position on the links between international migration and development, including protecting the rights of all migrants, the important role of international labour standards, and cooperation regarding labour mobility, were also captured in this Declaration.

The ILO’s unique mandate for the protection of migrant workers and related areas of work are very relevant to the current debates on and initiatives in migration and development, which are also taking place in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and the Global Migration Group (GMG), comprising 18 agencies, which the ILO chaired in 2014.

ILO Participation in Events on Migration and Development

Migration and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

  1. Opening Remarks by Stephen Pursey, Director, ILO Multilateral Cooperation Department, GMG and OECD Development Centre Side Event on Leveraging Migration, Remittances and Diaspora Contributions for Financing Sustainable Development on the margins of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development

    14 July 2015

  2. GMG International Conference on Harnessing Migration, Remittances and Diaspora Contributions for Financing Sustainable Development

    26-27 May 2015

  3. From Cairo to Addis: Migration, labour mobility and the renewed global partnership for sustainable development, Side event to the 48th Session of the Commission on Population and Development and the 2nd Drafting Session of the Outcome Document for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development

    16 April 2015

  4. 13th International Coordination Meeting on International Migration

    12-13 February 2015

  5. Defining the Role of Migration in the Post-2015 Agenda: IOM and Governments of Germany and Costa Rica Briefing

    17 December 2014

  6. From the Open Working Group to 2015: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Migration and Empowering Migrants, IOM and Governments of Sweden and Turkey High-level Discussion and Breakfast

    20 October 2014

  7. Migration and Decent Work and the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Statement by Thetis Mangahas, Deputy Regional Director, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Global Experts Meeting on Migration in the Post-2015 Development Agenda

    28-29 April 2014

Global Forum on Migration and Development

  1. Remarks by Sandra Polaski, Deputy Director-General for Policy, GFMD Summit, Istanbul Opening Plenary Session

    16 October 2015

  2. Presentation by Anna Olsen, Technical Officer, ILO GMS TRIANGLE Project, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Changing Public Attitudes: Using Evidence to Drive Campaign & Advocacy Work

    29 April 2015

  3. Presentation by Michelle Leighton, Chief, Labour Migration Branch, ILO, Promoting Decent Work for Migrant Workers

    5 February 2015

  4. Address by Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, in his capacity as the 2014 Chair of the GMG to the Open Plenary Session of the GFMD Summit

    16 May 2014

  5. Remarks by Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, as 2014 Chair to the Common-Space Break-out Session on Realising decent labour migration and decent employment - partnering with states, businesses, labour organisations, diaspora entrepreneurs and other civil society organisations, GFMD Summit

    14 May 2014

  6. Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, as GMG Chair, calls for closer collaboration and exchange between GFMD and GMG during launch of Turkey’s GFMD Chairmanship 2014-15

    22 September 2014

  7. GFMD-GMG Side Event on Fair Migration and the Sustainable Post-2015 Development Agenda

    9 July 2014

  8. Remarks by Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, as GMG Chair, to the GFMD Special Session on Enhancing Coordination between the GFMD and the United Nations System: Special Representative to the Secretary General (SRSG) on International Migration and Development, Peter Sutherland, GMG and the GFMD, GFMD Summit

    15 May 2014

  9. GMG Side Event on Migration and Youth: Challenges and Opportunities, GFMD Summit

    15 May 2015

  10. GMG Side Event on Good Practices for Empowering Migrant Domestic Workers, GFMD Civil Society Days

    13 May 2015

  11. Presentation by Manuela Tomei, Director, ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, GFMD Second Thematic Meeting on Recruitment, labour migration and diaspora: Improving labour market complementarities and economic development outcomes

    11 September 2013

ILO as GMG Chair in 2014

  1. GMG/ILO Statement on the occasion of the Debate on International Migration and Development at the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly

    27 October 2014

  2. Conference organized in collaboration with Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs Human Rights and Migrant Workers: Global Challenges and Promises, Columbia University

    21 October 2014

  3. GMG Technical Working Level Meeting organized in New York on Realizing Post-2015 Aspirations for Migrants and Migration

    16-17 October 2014

  4. GMG Statement at the First High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation: Building Towards the Post-2015 Development Agenda

    15-16 April 2014

  5. Presentation of Synthesis Report on follow-up action taken by the UN system to the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, 27th Session of the High Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP)

    17-21 March 2014

  6. Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, Remarks during the Panel Discussion on Human Rights Mainstreaming, 4th Meeting, 25th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council

    4 March 2014

  7. Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, and GMG Chair 2014, Video-message to the 12th Coordination Meeting on International Migration

    20 February 2014

  8. GMG Chair presentation to a panel discussion on Follow-up to the 2013 High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development at the 12th Coordination Meeting on International Migration

    20 February 2014

  9. GMG Side Event on Strengthening Cooperation and Partnerships between Civil Society, Social Partners and the GMG, 12th Coordination Meeting on International Migration

    21 February 2014