Resumption of labour migration and regional cooperation

This report was prepared to inform and guide discussions on the theme “Resumption of labour migration and regional cooperation” at the 15th ASEAN Forum on Migrant Labour (AFML) hosted by the Government of Cambodia on 19-20 October 2022 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The AFML is a tripartite meeting that brings together governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, alongside civil society groups, to discuss migration governance issues across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, and aims to promote and protect migrant workers’ rights. The AFML is supported by the ILO through its TRIANGLE in ASEAN programme.

The report suggests that the demand for migrant workers in the ASEAN region is likely to resume to pre-pandemic levels in the 2023-24 period. It reviews lessons learned from the COVID-19 and proposes recommendations for ensuring that resumption of labour migration in the ASEAN region is rights-responsive and maximizes development impacts on migrant workers, their families, communities and countries of origin and destination in the new normal.