ILO addresses PERC conference on labour migration in Europe and Central Asia
Heinz Koller, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, participated in the General Assembly of the Pan-European Regional Council (PERC) of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). He also addressed a conference on labour migration, organized by the PERC in cooperation with Belgian unions.
16 December 2019
Labour migration has been a concern of the ILO from the outset, said Mr Koller. The ILO Constitution already mentioned the need to protect “the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own”.
In 1949, The ILO adopted the Migration for Employment Convention (n° 97) along with Recommendation n° 86. The idea at that time was to encourage labour migration and codify recruitment, placement and employment conditions for migrants.
“The International Labour Conference came back to the issue twenty-five years later, in 1975, in an already radically different context,” explained Mr Koller. The objective of the newly adopted Convention on Migrant Workers (n° 143) along with Recommendation n° 151 was rather to help manage migration flows and eliminate irregular migration and the organization of clandestine movements of migrants.
In 2018, the ILO estimated that there were 164 million migrant workers worldwide. Many of them are vulnerable to abusive behaviour and exploitation. Trafficking and exploitation occur whenever migrants resort to irregular and dangerous migration routes, often with the help of smugglers.
“Migration policies have to be anchored in the respect of human rights, including labour standards,” he said. Migration policies linked to employment can help foster the right balance between meeting labour market needs and ensuring migrant worker rights.
“More social dialogue is needed, and the social partners need to be fully involved in the design and implementation of migration policies,” he said, “as recalled by Convention n° 143 and Recommendation n° 86”.
Trade unions have a crucial role to play in the protection of migrant workers, because they are the best placed for that as workers, and also to prevent working conditions being undermined by the exploitation of migrant workers, Mr Koller concluded.
The conference also discussed practical examples of cooperation between unions of countries of origin and destination, and of integration of migrant workers in unions. Participants underlined the necessity to campaign for the ratification of the ILO Conventions on migration, as well as to work to combat the core causes of labour migration – poverty, corruption and a lack of decent work opportunities in countries of origin.
In 1949, The ILO adopted the Migration for Employment Convention (n° 97) along with Recommendation n° 86. The idea at that time was to encourage labour migration and codify recruitment, placement and employment conditions for migrants.
“The International Labour Conference came back to the issue twenty-five years later, in 1975, in an already radically different context,” explained Mr Koller. The objective of the newly adopted Convention on Migrant Workers (n° 143) along with Recommendation n° 151 was rather to help manage migration flows and eliminate irregular migration and the organization of clandestine movements of migrants.
In 2018, the ILO estimated that there were 164 million migrant workers worldwide. Many of them are vulnerable to abusive behaviour and exploitation. Trafficking and exploitation occur whenever migrants resort to irregular and dangerous migration routes, often with the help of smugglers.
“Migration policies have to be anchored in the respect of human rights, including labour standards,” he said. Migration policies linked to employment can help foster the right balance between meeting labour market needs and ensuring migrant worker rights.
“More social dialogue is needed, and the social partners need to be fully involved in the design and implementation of migration policies,” he said, “as recalled by Convention n° 143 and Recommendation n° 86”.
Trade unions have a crucial role to play in the protection of migrant workers, because they are the best placed for that as workers, and also to prevent working conditions being undermined by the exploitation of migrant workers, Mr Koller concluded.
The conference also discussed practical examples of cooperation between unions of countries of origin and destination, and of integration of migrant workers in unions. Participants underlined the necessity to campaign for the ratification of the ILO Conventions on migration, as well as to work to combat the core causes of labour migration – poverty, corruption and a lack of decent work opportunities in countries of origin.