Labour migration, if properly managed, is essential to the needs of businesses and the long-term success of economies, the South Sudan Employers' Confederation argues
The ILO Bureau for Employers' Activities (ACT/EMP), in partnership with the Employers' Confederation of South Sudan, organised a workshop for employers on better regional migration management.
10 November 2023
The ILO with funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's Better Regional Migration Management project, organised a workshop on better regional migration management for employers from the different regions of South Sudan in Juba, on 7 and 8 November.
The workshop was opened in a tripartite manner under the auspices and in the presence of the Honourable James Hoth Mai, Minister of Labour of the Republic of South Sudan, and representatives of employers and workers. Representatives from the Employers' Association of South Sudan emphasised that labour migration, if properly managed, is essential to the needs of businesses and the long-term success of economies. They also stressed the need for clear, transparent and efficient national immigration laws and policies that allow the movement of workers when and where they are needed. They also noted that private employment agencies have an important role to play in matching supply and demand, but that clear regulations must be in place to protect migrant workers. They also recognised that South Sudan is a transit and destination country for many migrants, highlighting that migrants face few problems in working in South Sudan, and acknowledged that South Sudan is increasingly becoming a country of origin for migrants as well. Discussions also took place on skills and, in the context of migration, on the recognition of prior learning, where the practical testing and certification of skills and competences by employers' organisations themselves through skills passports was considered worthy of further discussion with employers' organisations in the region. In this respect, the Confederation of IGAD Employers (CIE), of which South Sudan Employers is not only a founding member but also the current chair, was seen as an appropriate avenue for such discussions.
Representatives of the Ministry of Labour, who were present throughout the workshop, actively participated and shared the latest policy developments and confirmed that they had issued 15 letters of no objection to private employment agencies in the process of being established. They also informed that a policy for private employment agencies is currently being drafted.
Representatives from the South Sudanese unions also present shared information about the union-to-union cooperation agreements they had signed the previous day with their counterparts from Ethiopia and Uganda, and encouraged employers to sign similar cooperation agreements with their respective employer counterparts in these countries.
The workshop was opened in a tripartite manner under the auspices and in the presence of the Honourable James Hoth Mai, Minister of Labour of the Republic of South Sudan, and representatives of employers and workers. Representatives from the Employers' Association of South Sudan emphasised that labour migration, if properly managed, is essential to the needs of businesses and the long-term success of economies. They also stressed the need for clear, transparent and efficient national immigration laws and policies that allow the movement of workers when and where they are needed. They also noted that private employment agencies have an important role to play in matching supply and demand, but that clear regulations must be in place to protect migrant workers. They also recognised that South Sudan is a transit and destination country for many migrants, highlighting that migrants face few problems in working in South Sudan, and acknowledged that South Sudan is increasingly becoming a country of origin for migrants as well. Discussions also took place on skills and, in the context of migration, on the recognition of prior learning, where the practical testing and certification of skills and competences by employers' organisations themselves through skills passports was considered worthy of further discussion with employers' organisations in the region. In this respect, the Confederation of IGAD Employers (CIE), of which South Sudan Employers is not only a founding member but also the current chair, was seen as an appropriate avenue for such discussions.
Representatives of the Ministry of Labour, who were present throughout the workshop, actively participated and shared the latest policy developments and confirmed that they had issued 15 letters of no objection to private employment agencies in the process of being established. They also informed that a policy for private employment agencies is currently being drafted.
Representatives from the South Sudanese unions also present shared information about the union-to-union cooperation agreements they had signed the previous day with their counterparts from Ethiopia and Uganda, and encouraged employers to sign similar cooperation agreements with their respective employer counterparts in these countries.