Events in the international community

United Nations General Assembly

57th Session, New York, 2002

Statement by Caroline Lewis, ILO Liaison Office, New York

Agenda Item 109: Human rights questions:
(a) Implementation of human rights instruments

Migration today is about work. Between 1970 and 1990 the number of countries employing foreign labour more than doubled, from 42 to 90, and the issue is now being acknowledged as a major concern for employers, workers and labour ministries. Many governments have recognized the need to modernize and improve their laws, policies and practices on migration. Addressing migration means addressing employment and social protection issues, but it also especially requires anti-discrimination and integration initiatives.

Ensuring decent treatment for migrant workers, and resolving tensions between the sometimes differing interests of national and foreign workers, cannot be obtained by piecemeal measures or isolated advocacy. The complexities of migration require a comprehensive framework of legislative measures to ensure that the benefits and challenges of migration are reconciled with the dignity and rights of the human beings who migrate.  Fortunately, most elements for such an approach have already been elaborated in existing ILO and UN international Conventions.

The ILO welcomes the imminent entry into force of the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. The Convention combined with the two ILO Conventions (the Migration for Employment Convention, 1949 (No. 97) and the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143)) on which the UN Convention was modeled, provide a comprehensive legal framework for migration, for the treatment of migrants, for inter-State cooperation and for the prevention of exploitation and irregular migration.

All three Conventions provide a wealth of information and guidance on how to manage migration and develop a migration policy.

This includes guidelines for countries on how to establish a transparent labour migration admissions system to measure and respond to legitimate needs for foreign labour, while taking into account domestic labour demands. The establishment of a system of legal labour migration channels can help contribute to reducing irregular migration and the exploitation, trafficking and smuggling of migrants. Of the approximately 80-90 million migrant workers and their dependants now in countries other than their own, it is estimated that 15 per cent are working on an irregular basis. This is, in part, due to the increasing commercialization of the private recruitment process, but also due to a growing practice among developed countries of applying unduly restrictive immigration policies.

A standards-based approach to migration management, protecting the basic rights of all migrants and combating exploitation and trafficking, is a second basic element. Experience in various countries has demonstrated that the enforcement of minimum labour and workplace standards serves as an effective deterrent to irregular migration and employment, by discouraging sub-standard exploitative conditions that make the utilization of unauthorized foreign workers attractive to certain employers.

A major incentive for the exploitation of migrants, and ultimately forced labour, is the lack of application and enforcement of labour standards in countries of destination. A third basic policy element is thus the enforcement of minimum national employment standards, to protect migrant and non-migrant workers and to serve as a system of criminalizing the abuse of persons. A necessary complement is monitoring and inspection in such areas as agriculture, domestic work, the sex industry and other sectors of ‘irregular’ employment, in particular to identify and prevent exploitation of young women and children.

A final element is the establishment of mechanisms for consultation and coordination with social partners in the elaboration and practical implementation of a migration policy, in order to ensure coordination within government and with civil society on all areas of concern. These include, for example, the supervision of recruitment and the administration of admissions of foreign workers, the training of public service and law enforcement officials, recognition of educational equivalences, the provision of social and health services for migrant workers, and recovery services for victims of trafficking.

The feminization of migration and the predominance of abuse of women migrants requires the elaboration of gender-sensitive migration policies which recognize gender equality as integral to the process of policy making, planning and programme delivery, not only in providing equal treatment, but also in ensuring equal outcomes.

The ILO has participated actively in the "Global Campaign" effort launched in 1998 to promote wider ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of  the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and looks forward to the 20th member State ratifying or acceding to it, so that it can soon be brought into force.