In July 2007, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers established the ASEAN Committee to Implement the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Part of the role of this committee has been to strengthen information services to educate migrant workers about their rights, access to services and immigration requirements.
Budapest Process is a good example of cooperation between countries of two regions; Europe and Asia. A successful process, it gathers over 50 countries and more than ten international organisations. It aims to foster dialogue and share best practices in managing migration flows in order to achieve concrete and results-oriented outcomes.
Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) is a regional consultative process on managing labour migration in Asia and focuses on developing four key, action-oriented partnerships between countries of origin and destination for development around the subject of temporary contractual labour, based on a notion of partnership and shared responsibility:
IOM also conducts research projects to improve knowledge for developing new integration policies or programmes. In Portugal, for example, previous IOM-supported research projects have included a 2006 study of the different levels of socio-economic integration of immigrants across different geographical areas (regions, and major metropolitan areas). The study was part of a wider EU-financed initiative which included research projects in Italy, France, Spain and the UK.
In his report to the 2014 International Labour Conference, the ILO Director-General called for an ILO Agenda for Fair Migration and emphasised the growing concern about abusive and fraudulent recruitment practices affecting migrant workers.
In response to those challenges, in 2014 the ILO launched a global “Fair Recruitment Initiative” to:
• help prevent human trafficking and forced labour
IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) is one of the few entities dealing directly with migrant and remittance-specific issues since its start-up in 2006. The FFR is a US$38 million multi-donor fund which promotes economic opportunities for the rural poor through the support and development of innovative, cost-effective, and easily accessible international and/or domestic remittance services. The core purpose of the FFR is to maximize the impact of remittances on development.
In 2010, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU) agreed on a Joint Declaration on Migration and Development that was endorsed by the ACP-EU Council in June 2010. In this declaration, the parties committed to strengthen and deepen cooperation in the area of migration, in particular based on three pillars:
The Saphan Siang (Bridge of Voices) campaign promotes better understanding between Thais and migrant workers by increasing public awareness on the issues faced by migrant workers, their positive contribution to Thailand’s economy and society, and their right to equal protection under the law and in practical access to support services. The campaign seeks to achieve this goal by creating opportunities for interaction between Thais and migrants.
The Nursing MRA was signed by ASEAN member countries on December 9, 2006. This Arrangement facilitates the mobility of nursing services professionals within ASEAN, enhances exchange of information and expertise on standards and qualifications, promotes adoption of best practices for professional nursing services and provides opportunities for capacity building and training of nurses.
The Mediterranean Transit Migration (MTM) Dialogue is an inter-regional inter-governmental consultative forum of a wide number of EU, African, and other governments in the Meditteranean region, as well as observer States, and Partner Agecies, which aims to build common understandings and to jointly develop evidence-based comprehensive and sustainable migration management systems.