Event

Technical Meeting on Labour Migration Statistics in South Asia

Technical experts in the fields of labour migration and statistics met to obtain a regional picture of migration-related statistics by sharing information and data collection approaches among the countries in South Asia. There was also discussion of how national, regional and global level processes and plans for collecting and analyzing data can fit together, e.g. a regional labour migration statistics database, promotion of ICLS standards and SDG monitoring. A number of areas were identified in which the ILO could support in national and regional capacity building on migration-related statistics.

Specialists from Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Maldives, as well as representatives from the SAARC Secretariat, Colombo Process Technical Support Unit, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Sri Lankan Institute of Policy Studies and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), convened in a technical meeting hosted by ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for South Asia. The ILO delivered presentations on (1) efforts related to strengthening South Asian labour migration statistics within the relevant national, regional and global migration frameworks; (2) measurement approaches that have been adopted at the international level, and the suitability of said definitions and methodologies at the South Asian level; (3) the SDGs and the indicator framework in relation to migration; and (4) the concept and framework for the proposed International Labour Migration Statistics (ILMS) Database for SouthAsia.

Participants were then asked to gather into country-based groups to discuss suggestions for changes and additional considerations to be made in the proposed ILMS, as well as suggestions for more effective use of data to inform labour migration policies in the region, and suggestions on improving coordination between producers of labour migration statistics in South Asia.