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 ILO meeting calls for change in migration policies in Southern Africa
Pretoria, November 29 2002 (ILO Information): Abuses of migrant workers' rights, poor labour conditions, increase of irregular migration and growing xenophobia were cited as important problems to be addressed urgently by governments in the Southern African Development (SADC) countries in co-operation with employers' association and trade unions. The call was made today at the end of a four-day tripartite meeting organised by the UN's International Labour Organisation (ILO) and attended by senior government officials, business executive officers and trade union leaders from all 14 SADC countries. "Ill-conceived or inadequate policies have led to a series of problems that are of direct concern to the ILO's and its constituents" a 6-page statement adopted by delegates says. According to UN and ILO estimates, there are about 175 million people on the move and 120 million of them are migrant workers and their families. Twenty million African workers leave and work outside of their countries of origin and by 2015, one out of ten African workers will be living and working outside his or her country. Yet their situation may further deteriorate if governments, employers' and workers' organisation fail in establishing sound migration policies that seek to implement internationally-recognized labour standards to protect their dignity at work. In this respect, delegates deplored the poor rate of ratification of ILO international conventions covering migrant workers by SADC countries. None of them have so far ratified the ILO Convention on Migrant Workers adopted in 1975 and which seeks to promote respect for migrants workers' human rights regardless of whether they are legally or illegally employed. The conventions also provides for governments in both sending and receiving countries to cooperate in order to bring migration flows under control. Five out of 14 SADC countries have ratified an earlier ILO convention on migrant workers. Delegates vowed to reaffirm migrant workers' fundamental right to join or form trade union and to bargain collectively. "The meeting discussed the fate of the most forgotten and voiceless workers", said Sylvester Tembo, General Secretary of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions who led the trade union group at the meeting. There was a general agreement to the effect that migration, based on sound policies involving social partners, would be beneficial to the region. "Trade can help reduce inequality between countries, but migration is a better bet as it can benefit both sending and receiving countries and contributes to improve harmony between people", Mr VicEssenaar told the assembly on behalf of the employers' group. "The key challenge of the meeting was to seek ways of ensuring that both supplying and host countries as well as their workers benefit from migration", stressed delegates from SADC governments. A series of concrete proposals will be tabled to SADC governments as a follow-up to the ILO Forum. They include calls to harmonize migration policies, simplify procedures, effectively ensure protection of migrants' rights, reduce irregular migration by expanding mechanisms of legal migration, and strengthen social dialogue on ways of addressing problems that are here to stay. Summary report and conclusions from the meetingContact: Patrick Taran or Luc Demaret, tel. in Pretoria +27 (0)12 320 5120 ACTRAV WEB site on migrant workersFor more details contact: Luc Demaret (ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) Tel: 41 22 799 7233 E-mail: demaret@ilo.org Updated by LO. Approved by MS. Last updated: 2 December 2002.
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Press Release