Ministries of Labour from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico exchange experiences on fair recruitment of migrant workers
By hosting this exchange, the ILO seeks to contribute to efforts to improve fair recruitment processes for migrant workers.
1 September 2022
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(San José, Costa Rica. September 1st, 2022).- With the purpose to improve coordination between countries and overcome shared challenges, Ministries of Labour of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico came together to share their experiences and recent work on labour migration.
The countries exchanged good practices and analysed shared difficulties and opportunities to implement public policy to guarantee fair recruitment processes for those who seek to work abroad.
“El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras comprise one of the most important migration corridors of the region, and Mexico has become not only a transit country but also a destination country for complex and changing labour migration flows. Ministries of Labour of those countries have committed to improve the governance of labour migration and to find ways to guarantee fair recruitmentthroughout the hiring process”, said Noortje Denkers, Labour Migration and Mobility Specialist of the ILO for Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
From ILO’s headquarters in Geneva, María Gallotti, coordinator of the Fair Recruitment Initiative, delved into the principles and good practices of fair recruitment with case studies from other regions.
Together, employment and labour migration specialists of the ministries identified common institutional challenges. Amongst those, the need to update and implement regulations linked to the current labour markets; interinstitutional and cross-border coordination (between the countries in the region) clarifying responsibilities; effective monitoring and timely follow-up of migrant workers, since consular networks have no presence in all territories; the urgency to expand technical and operational capacities on general principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment, and to strengthen institutional, financial and technological resources, as well as the need to strengthen or to establish data bases of private employment and recruitment agencies that play an active role in migrant workers´ recruitment overseas.
Likewise, participating countries referred to current risks like informal migration channels, the vast amount of fraud victims due to scam employment offers and the lack of reliable information available to the public.
Amongst other regional opportunities, they committed to continue ongoing coordination to prevent fraudulent practices and to leverage the complementarity of labour markets between countries.
At the request of the participating countries, the ILO will continue to support this coordination space and advance together in the implementation of fair recruitment practices benefiting migrant workers.
The countries exchanged good practices and analysed shared difficulties and opportunities to implement public policy to guarantee fair recruitment processes for those who seek to work abroad.
“El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras comprise one of the most important migration corridors of the region, and Mexico has become not only a transit country but also a destination country for complex and changing labour migration flows. Ministries of Labour of those countries have committed to improve the governance of labour migration and to find ways to guarantee fair recruitmentthroughout the hiring process”, said Noortje Denkers, Labour Migration and Mobility Specialist of the ILO for Central America, Haiti, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
From ILO’s headquarters in Geneva, María Gallotti, coordinator of the Fair Recruitment Initiative, delved into the principles and good practices of fair recruitment with case studies from other regions.
Together, employment and labour migration specialists of the ministries identified common institutional challenges. Amongst those, the need to update and implement regulations linked to the current labour markets; interinstitutional and cross-border coordination (between the countries in the region) clarifying responsibilities; effective monitoring and timely follow-up of migrant workers, since consular networks have no presence in all territories; the urgency to expand technical and operational capacities on general principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment, and to strengthen institutional, financial and technological resources, as well as the need to strengthen or to establish data bases of private employment and recruitment agencies that play an active role in migrant workers´ recruitment overseas.
Likewise, participating countries referred to current risks like informal migration channels, the vast amount of fraud victims due to scam employment offers and the lack of reliable information available to the public.
Amongst other regional opportunities, they committed to continue ongoing coordination to prevent fraudulent practices and to leverage the complementarity of labour markets between countries.
At the request of the participating countries, the ILO will continue to support this coordination space and advance together in the implementation of fair recruitment practices benefiting migrant workers.