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International migration has occurred all through history. Each year millions of people women and men leave their homes and cross national borders in search of better standards of living and greater security for themselves and their families, undertaking jobs ranging from manual labour to high tech activities. Combined, their numbers would equal the fifth most populous country on the planet. The number of migrants crossing borders in search of employment and human security is expected to increase rapidly in the coming decades due to widening income and wealth disparities across countries, the failure of globalization to provide jobs and economic opportunities where people live, environmental and natural disasters, political persecution and armed conflict, and demographic decline in most destination countries. Most of the world's migrants (estimated at 191 million in 2005 by the UN Population Division) are migrant workers (94 million according to ILO estimates) - those seeking work - and their dependants.
In 2004, the 92nd Session of the International Labour Conference of the ILO adopted a
Resolution concerning a fair deal for migrant workers in a global economy -
(pdf 111 KB) which called on the ILO to carry out a Plan of Action for Migrant Workers designed to assist countries to improve their migration policies and practices. This main components of the Plan are: the development of a non-binding multilateral framework for a rights-based approach to labour migration - (pdf 255 KB), action to promote wider application of international labour standards and other relevant instruments, support for implementation of the ILO global employment agenda at national level, enhancing social protection for migrant workers, strengthening social dialogue, provision of technical assistance and capacity building, and improving the information and knowledge base on migration.
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