Objective 6: Facilitate fair and ethical recruitment and safeguard conditions that ensure decent work

This project of the EU aims to contribute to the protection of rights of Armenian citizens leaving for work abroad, economic stabilisation and reintegration of labour/circular migrants and the prevention of irregular migration. The specific objective is to empower all stakeholders in Armenian labour/circular migration in order to make migration work better for development.

Main Activities

• Inter-agency networking within migration environment;

• Study of reintegration programs;

• Training and study trips for government agencies;

The Seasonal Workers Directive, which was agreed upon in 2014, should ensure that seasonal workers will enjoy equal treatment with EU nationals in terms of employment, including the minimum working age and working conditions, including pay and dismissal, working hours, leave and holidays, as well as health and safety requirements at the workplace. To this end, it should help prevent exploitation and protect the health and safety of non-EU seasonal workers.

Labour Market Information tools: Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) Job Bank (www.jobbank.gc.ca) and Working in Canada (www.WorkinginCanada.gc.ca) Web sites help connect Canadians with available jobs. These sites will be merged into one (new Job Bank) in Winter 2014. By using Job Bank:

Since 2011, the Government of Sri Lanka has been looking to shift its migrant worker population from a mainly low skilled work force to more of a skilled work force to  ensure better conditions of employment and higher wages overseas, and recognition and employability upon return to Sri Lanka.

In Vietnam, Migrant Worker Resource Centres (MRCs) were established in the employment service centres run by the Provincial Department of Labour in 2011. This model of an integrated service offers ample opportunity for scale and sustainability. It is estimated that 20% of job seekers that visit the employment service centers are interested in working outside of the country.

The Sri Lanka Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment have made it mandatory for female migrant domestic workers to be trained as housekeeping assistants with National Vocational Qualification Level 3 certification. These workers will be categorised as housekeeping assistants, a level above their former occupational classification as ‘house maids'. Their minimum wage also will be raised – for example the minimum wage for those migrating to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be raised to Saudi Riyal 900 (Lkr.

This database is based on censuses of OECD countries and provides comprehensive and comparative information on a broad range of demographic and labour market characteristics of immigrants living in OECD countries. It is helpful to better understand migrant characteristics and inform policy development in this regard: highly qualified migration and brain drain issues, available skills and qualifications among diaspora members, localization and so on. 

In 2009 the Swedish government appointed an independent Parliamentary Committee on Circular Migration and Development, with the task of examining the link between circular migration and development by mapping circular migration to and from Sweden and identifing factors that influence migrants’ opportunities to circulate.

Three years after the beginning of the „Arab Spring“, transformation processes are still under way in Northern African states. High unemployment rates prevail and especially young and highly qualified Tunisians suffer from a lack of professional perspectives.

The Department of Employment of Thailand has started to send workers from the agricultural sector to Israel under the Thailand-Israel Employment Cooperation (TIC) secured via an Agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This scheme benefits the workers and reduces the cost for all Thai workers overseas.