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Migrant Workers Pretoria, South Africa, 26 - 29 November 2002 SUMMARY REPORT AND CONCLUSIONS 1. Introduction At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the total number of persons living outside their countries of origin worldwide was estimated by the United Nations at 175 million including 120 million migrant workers and their families by ILO estimates. It is estimated that 20 million African men and women are migrant workers and that by 2015 one in ten Africans will live and work outside their countries of origin. While migration is bound to grow and offers development opportunities for both countries of origin and destination as well as for individual migrant workers, ill-conceived or inadequate policies have led to a series of problems that are of direct concern to the International Labour Organisation and its constituents. It was with the purpose of examining ways and means of addressing present and future migration issues in Southern Africa that the ILO convened a tripartite forum in Pretoria on 26-29 November, 2002. Representatives of governments, employers' and workers' organisations participated from the 14 countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Government delegates included a Commissioner of Labour, Directors of Departments and other senior officials in Labour Ministries. Employers' delegates included Executive Directors, Human Resources Officers and Industrial Relations Managers representing National Employers' Associations. Trade union delegates included General Secretaries, Vice Presidents and other officials of National Trade Union Confederations. Representatives from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Employment and Labour Sector of the Southern African Development Community, and the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) also took part. The Forum was jointly organised by the ILO International Migration Programme and the International Training Centre of the ILO (Turin) with the support of the ILO Area Office for Southern Africa based in Pretoria and with financial and/or logistic support of the Regional Office for Africa, ILO Area Offices in Antananarivo, Kinshasa and Lusaka, the Southern Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team (SAMAT), the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities and the ILO Bureau for Employers' Activities. 2. Official Opening The Forum was opened by Mr. Sipho Ndebele, Director of International Relations of the Department of Labour of the Republic of South Africa, who emphasized the critical importance of migration in the Southern African region. Mr. E. Kenneth Andoh, Director of the ILO Pretoria Area Office, Mr. Arnold Chitambo, Sector Coordinator, SADC Employment and Labour Sector Coordinating Unit in Lusaka and Mr. Manolo Abella, Chief of the ILO International Migration Programme all spoke at the opening ceremony. Delegates elected Mr. Joshua M. Mndzebele, Commissioner of Labour of Swaziland as Chairman. Mr. Vic Esselaar, Industrial Relations Manager of Business South Africa and Mr. Sylvester Tembo, Secretary General of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions were elected Deputy Chairpersons. Mr. John W. Mufukare, Executive Director of the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe was proclaimed Rapporteur of the Forum. 3. Summary of the Proceedings The first session examined the economic and social context of labour migration in the SADC region. Mr. Patrick Taran, Senior Specialist of the ILO International Migration Programme, presented an international perspective on the relationship between globalization and migration as well as the need for legal and social protection of migrant workers. Specific issues relating to employment, job security, wages and income were discussed by Mr. Haroon Bhorat, Director of the Development Policy Research Unit, University of Cape Town, based on an analysis of labour force trends in South Africa. Mr. Nilim Baruah, Head of the Labour Migration Unit of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, looked at issues concerning remittances, and return and reintegration within the framework of migration management. The afternoon session focused on the perspectives and roles of the social partners, with presentations by the specialists from the ILO Southern Africa Multidisciplinary Advisory Team (SAMAT) in Harare, Mr. Frederick Amakye Parry, Senior Specialist for Workers' Activities and Mr. Hezron M. Njuguna; Senior Specialist for Employers' Activities. Finally, Mr. Vincent Williams, South Africa coordinator of the Southern Africa Migration Program (SAMP) presented the characteristics and policy challenges of labour migration in Southern Africa. Group working sessions throughout the Forum facilitated the exchange of perspectives and concerns among participants, with an emphasis on country situation sharing regarding conditions facing migrant workers and labour migration policies and structures. The groups identified common migration policy concerns and ways to strengthen the roles of social partners. Group work permitted participants to identify common conclusions as well as needed elements for policy and practical measures for implementation. The second day of the Forum reviewed policy instruments and administrative institutions. Mr. Abella presented an overview of migration policy concerns and instruments, including those addressing recruitment of migrant workers, based on the practices in various countries. Relevant international labour standards were introduced by Ms. Cecile Balima Vittin, Senior Specialist on International Labour Standards in Harare, who detailed ILO Conventions Nos. 97 and 143 on migrant workers. A specific look at the administration of labour migration focused on the mandate, consolidated functions and responsibilities of national bureaus, including an examination of resources, both in terms of competencies and funding. Two country case studies were presented, the first from Swaziland by the Commissioner of Labour, Mr. Joshua M. Mndzebele and the second by Ms. Marie Rose Djumba Moseka, Director of Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The final session of the day looked at the roles and structures of workers' and employers' organizations in addressing labour migration. A case study from Mauritius on the employment of "guest workers" in the export processing zone, presented by Mr. Mario Ponen, Human Resources Manager of New Island Clothing, representing the Mauritius Employers' Federation, offered examples of current practice by employers. Mr. Edmund Tinago Ruzive, Vice President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, outlined the serious problems workers' organizations confronted in addressing the many migrant workers who have no health, retirement or other social protection benefits. The third day was devoted to looking at the special policy challenges in the Southern African region. Social policy issues in migration including xenophobia, discrimination, return, and trafficking were discussed by Mr. Andoh (ILO Pretoria) and Mr. Boe (IOM Pretoria). Mr. Robert Chisupa, Labour Migration Officer, from the SADC Employment and Labour Sector Coordinating Unit, presented an analysis of potential common approaches, activities and cooperation on labour migration among SADC countries. In a panel looking at the problems of migrant groups at risk the gender dimensions of international migration in the region were presented by Ms. Judica Makhetha, ILO Senior Specialist on Gender Equality in Employment (ILO SAMAT). The challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and links to migration were described by Dr. Henning Morr, HIV/AIDS Consultant, based in the ILO Area Office in Pretoria and working on a project covering eight countries in the region. Following working group sessions and elaboration of the draft conclusions by the Forum Rapporteur, Mr. Mufukare, the Forum heard a brief presentation by Mr. Abella regarding preparations for the General Discussion on Migrant Workers based on the integrated approach, to take place at the International Labour Conference in 2004 in Geneva. Mr. Boe of IOM, Mr. Chitambo of SADC, and Ms. Lynn Villacorta, Manager, Social Protection Programme, International Training Center of the ILO, Turin, Italy shared concluding remarks on behalf of their organizations. The Conclusions of the Forum were adopted by participants by acclamation. Closing Statements were presented by the Workers' group representative, Mr. Tembo, the Employers' group representative, Mr. Essalaar, and the Government group representative, Mr. Mndzebele. 4. Overview of the challenges of labour migration in the region Participants noted that cross border labour migration is a current and historical reality that impacts directly on practically all SADC Member States. Most countries in the region are now both countries of origin and of destination of migrant workers. Persistent differentials in wage rates, standards of living and unemployment rates, together with political upheavals in a number of countries were identified as key push factors of labour migrations. In this regard, participants expressed particular concern over the emigration of doctors, nurses and teachers to other regions of the world. If anything labour migration is likely to increase due to globalization and as the region develops towards further integration. It was generally felt that labour migration has the potential to contribute to economic growth of the countries in SADC and therefore benefit both the countries of origin and destination, as well as both migrant and national workers in those countries. However, ill-conceived or poorly implemented migration policies have led to a series of important problems that need to be addressed. According to the participants these include: Participants deplored the poor rate of ratifications of the ILO Conventions concerning migrant workers (Nos. 97 and 143) in the SADC region, and emphasized the need to equally encourage ratification and implementation of these instruments and the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Participants acknowledged that the continued spread of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic would continue to pose a challenge in dealing with migration issues in the region. It was emphasized that the feminization of migration must also be addressed. Labour migration was seen by participants as a means of strengthening economic growth in each country by stimulating job creation thereby promoting social justice and greater equality. 5. Time to act Closer cooperation among governments, employers' and workers' organizations in establishing sound migration policies was deemed essential to avoid a further deterioration of the labour situation in Southern Africa. Unemployment problems in some countries are aggravated by irregular labour migration and a general deterioration of local working conditions. Social security provisions for pension for returning migrants are either lacking or ineffective. Other major concerns include rising xenophobia and a significant brain drain. Aggravation of all these factors was cited as the likely consequence should migration policy inertia prevail in the region in the next five years. Divergences in economic conditions and the weak implementation of minimum labour standards have created conditions leading to the employment of "undocumented" foreign workers throughout the sub-region and to migration flows outside normal channels. 6. Need for regional coordination Decision-making on migration policies in SADC countries are presently shared by a variety of ministries and institutions with Home Affairs Ministries and --to a lesser extent-- the Labour Ministries play leading roles. This notwithstanding that the latter have responsibility for all labour market concerns, consultations with social partners, labour standards and implementation of ILO Conventions. The situation is however different from country to country. In addition, while most SADC countries have functioning tripartite consultation mechanisms and institutions these were rarely directly involved in the formulation of migration policy. A number of delegates referred to regular complaints by employers' or workers' organizations to the effect that consultations are needed now and that social dialogue should be encouraged on issues related to labour migration. While calling for measures to address discrepancies at national level in dealing with labour migration, participants were of the view that a framework for discussing labour migration at the level of the SADC region should be contemplated. They identified a number of issues that were of equal concern to all SADC countries, namely: While it was generally agreed that governments should examine labour migration in a broader perspective including regional repercussions, it was also considered necessary to simplify procedures at the operational level, possibly with a one-stop structure dealing with both residence and work permits by employers or workers. Good governance was also considered an important element to conduct migration policies. 7. Recommendations Participants agreed that the following elements are necessary for effective labour migration policy:
Adopted in Plenary on 29 November 2002 
Press release: ILO meeting calls for change in migration policies in Southern Africa (29.11.02)Press release: Labour migration in Southern Africa (27.11.02)
Updated by LO. Approved by MS. Last updated: 2 December 2002.
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