Social protection for migrant workers in the Arab region: Good practices and challenges

Out of some 169 million global migrant workers, over 24 million works in Arab States. Migrant workers play a key role in the labour markets of the region, particularly in sectors such as construction, domestic work, agriculture and food production, hospitality, services, and health care. Internationally, migrant workers make up an average of 4% of the workforce. In the Arab region, this figure significantly exceeds the global average, with the highest percentage of migrant workers in the workforce standing at 40%.

While migrant workers - including Arab migrant workers - contribute to the development of the region through their labour and remittances, most of them face numerous challenges in terms of accessing social protection benefits, including healthcare, social insurance, and pensions. The lack of social protection not only affects the well-being of migrant workers but also creates social and economic vulnerabilities for their families and communities in destination and origin countries.

A mix of legal (de jure) and administrative and practical (de facto) barriers, coupled with a lack of coordination between social security systems between countries of origin and destination, prevent millions of workers in the Arab region and their families from exercising their fundamental right to social security. Yet, as documented on a recent ILO report on the topic, there are positive examples and good practices across the region. Since the COVID-19 pandemic some countries are in the process of levelling the social protection playing field, including in the GCC.

The session will examine barriers to the social security of migrant workers in the Arab region, discuss good regional experiences and chart possible avenues for progressive reforms.

Agenda

13:00 – 13:10 | Opening and Welcome:

• Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Security Specialist for the Arab States Region, ILO
• Indrajid Numukti, Regional Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, ISSA

13:10 – 13:25 | Setting the Stage: The state of Social Protection for Migrant Workers in the Arab Region.

• Lea Bou Khater, Social Protection Technical Officer, ILO ROAS

13:25 – 13:55 | Panel discussion

• Mohamed Khrais, Director of Research Department, Social Security Corporation of Jordan.
• Amine Ben Abdallah, Director of the Department of Cooperation and International Relations in the National Social Security Fund of Tunisia
• Fahad Al-Murad, Acting Deputy Director General of the Public Authority of Manpower in Kuwait.

13:55 – 14:25 | Q&A

13:55 – 14:25 | Closing

This episode is part of the Webinar Series "Arab Social Protection Compass. Towards Integrated Approaches for Universal Social Protection", organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and technical support of socialprotection.org. The initiative intends to put a spotlight on reforms and programmes geared towards fostering integration within social protection across the region and beyond, while contributing to stir discussion at the national level. Throughout the series, speakers will delve into both the theoretical underpinnings and practical implementations of specific reforms, aiming to inspire a broad audience of practitioners to replicate or scale up similar interventions.