All news: migrant workers + international migration + irregular migration + migration policy + return migration + labour migration + refugees

ILO Statement to the Second Committee of the 66th General Assembly

ILO calls for jobs-intensive growth model

A pro-employment macroeconomic framework is needed which sets explicit quantitative employment targets at national and international levels.

Tajik remittances from Russia top 700m dollars in second quarter of 2011

In the second quarter of 2011 alone, 742m dollars was sent through money transfer from Russia to Tajikistan, the Central Bank of Russia has announced.

The long journey of justice for Indonesian migrant workers

As the second largest sending country, some 700.000 documented Indonesian migrant workers leave the country for work abroad, primarily in East and South East Asia as well as the Middle East. Of these, 78 per cent work as domestic workers.

ILO launches a photo essay on migrant workers - “The long road home: Journeys of Indonesian migrant workers”

Growing numbers of Indonesian women and men continue to opt for overseas labour migration as the best way of securing an adequate income for their families and escaping poverty. However, the social and economic costs of migration to the workers and...

Opening address at the Provincial Summit on Migration and Development and Launch of the Provincial Migration and Development Plan

By Mr Lawrence Jeff Johnson, Director, ILO Country Office for the Philippines, San Fernando, La Union, Philippines

The story of Munti: Tortured to death in Malaysia

Suparmo, 47 years old, still cannot forget his wife’s condition. Her teeth were broken. Her backbone was fractured. She had bruises and stab wounds on her face and body. His wife’s name was Munti. She was only 36 years old and was in a coma. “I...

The story of Umi Saodah: Tortured and trapped in war-torn Palestine

“I’m still angry and cannot forget what they have done to me,” Umi Saodah, a 34-year-old, recalled. It’s still crystal clear in her mind how four family members of her employer tortured her two years ago. “They showed no mercy. If they were living...

The story of Halimah: A father’s persisting regrets

Kohar, 49 years old and a resident of Cianjur, West Java, has five children: four daughters and a son. His wife died in 1999 and his two eldest daughters have worked in Saudi Arabia. When his third daughter, Halimah, 27 years of age, asked his...

The story of Elli Anita: Resilience in the face of adversity

Elli Anita is the third daughter of a family who joined the government-sponsored resettlement program from Jember in East Java to Bandar Lampung, Sumatra, when she was 18 years old. She holds an elementary school level leaving certificate and was...

The story of Siti Tarwiyah: Beaten to death in Saudi Arabia; blood money is all that remains of a mother’s love

“I’m still so traumatized. I can not forget my late wife. Her body was covered in wounds as a result of regular caning,” recalled Hamid, the husband of Siti Tarwiyah who died in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, three years ago. Her body was bruised everywhere...

The story of Ceriyati: Escaping abuse in Malaysia

Ceriyati Binti Dapin, a 37-year-old mother of a handicapped son, had no other choice but to become a migrant domestic worker in order to supplement the income of her husband Ridwan, who worked as an ojek driver in the Central Java town of Brebes....

The story of Cassina: Trapped in war-torn Iraq

Like most of her peers in Subang, West Java, Cassina had a strong desire to lift her family out of poverty as it had a debilitating effect on them since her marriage in 1996. Her husband’s daily income as an ojek driver was inadequate to cover their...

Judicial Colloquium on Human Trafficking & Forced Labour

A Judicial Colloquium on Human Trafficking & Forced Labour was held from 7-9th August with the participation of 65 Judges. Human Trafficking is gaining increased global attention as a transnational organized crime. The profits generated from...

Migrant, seasonal and mobile workers

New ILO survey reveals limited public support for migrant workers' rights in Asia

There is limited support for the rights of migrant workers among the public according to a new multi-country study released by the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. In general the report reveals higher levels of public support for...

Protecting Indonesian migrant workers against gender based violence and HIV and AIDS vulnerabilities

Indonesian women migrant workers, a majority of whom work as domestic workers, are particularly vulnerable to gender based violence and to HIV and AIDS throughout the entire course of the migratory cycle. Gender based violence stands out as one of...

Feature story

Monitoring hazardous child labour in Tajikistan

Labour inspectors often find it difficult to reach out to informal economy workplaces where hazardous child labour occurs most frequently. According to this year’s ILO report for World Day Against Child Labour, child labour monitoring (CLM) systems...

New measures to protect migrant workers

A package of measures aimed at improving recruitment practices and the protection of migrant workers’ rights has been launched by the Ministry of Labour’s Department of Employment (DOE) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). On 25 May...

“Working in Russia”: a step towards decent work for migrant workers

According to the 2011 ILO Global Report on Discrimination, migrant workers encounter discrimination on a daily basis. While many of them are already at risk of all kinds of abuse, they also became the first victims of the financial and economic...

From zero to hero – a story of Yayuk

Not many expected, at first, that Endang Sri Wahyuni, 43 years old, from PPSW Pasoendan, a NGO dealing with women’s empowerment, would be nominated as one of the best trainers of the ILO’s Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB). Although remaining...