Mapping and analysis of bilateral agreements to regulate regional and extra-regional labour migration in the Americas

Changes in migratory trends and national commitments to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration are driving the creation of protection mechanisms for migrant workers, such as Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements (BLMAs), which are useful tools for preventing and correcting situations of vulnerability and exclusion in accordance with national legislation and international labour standards.

Through collaborative instruments such as the BLMAs, the aim is to respond to the needs of labour markets and countries' economies by ensuring the human and labour rights of the migrant population. This has led to a number of good practices, innovations and lessons learned that contribute to strengthening labour migration governance in the Americas.

In order to identify the principles that govern some of the BLMAs in force in the region and to generate recommendations for the construction of agreements that adhere to the respect for human rights and the principles of fair recruitment promoted by the ILO, this study analyses 20 BLMAs classified into two groups.