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
The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) implemented a rule that provides penalty for charging and or collecting placement free from workers seeking employment in countries which have laws that provide the same. The No placement fee policy is a serious administrative offense with a penalty of cancellation of license of the concerned recruitment agencies. The same administrative rule penalized that act of charging of excessive placement fees.
The PHL and JICWELS have forged a unique hiring program which allows the Filipino candidate nurses/caregivers to take Japanese licensure exam and to practice their profession in Japan. It requires the candidates to undergo language training and cultural course in preparation for the exam. Before obtaining their qualifying as full-pledged nurses in Japan, the candidate is covered by a fully transparent employment contract with salaries equivalent to what Japanese nurses/caregivers receive.
Despite having the same labour rights as Costa Rican citizens, migrants and refugees encounter barriers to a decent job. The program Vivir la Integración (Living the Integration) is thus developed to encourage companies to establish corporate social responsibility programs that support the integration of refugees and those applying for refugee status.
In 2013, the Cambodian Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training launched 8 prakas (ministerial orders) on standards for Private Recruitment Agencies (PRAs), their on-site service and repatriation processes, recruitment processes and pre-departure orientation training, the use of service contracts, inspection and ranking of PRAs, a process by which migrant workers can lodge complaints, and penalties and rewards for PRAs.
Under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the movement of natural persons is one of the four ways through which services can be supplied internationally. Otherwise known as “Mode 4”, it covers natural persons who are either service suppliers (such as independent professionals) or who work for a service supplier and who are present in another WTO member to supply a service. It is a multilateral framework available on a non-discriminatory basis to all WTO Member States.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), under its Regional Programme on 'Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia', partners with recruiting/placement agency associations in some Asian countries to negotiate favourable contracts, benefits and working conditions for women; and to inform them of their rights.
The programme began implementation in 2001, promoting women’s human rights and empowerment by:
The Triple Win Project, coordinated by Germany's Development Ministry (GIZ), aims to match a surplus of qualified experts in countries of origin with unfilled vacancies in Germany. Participating third countries are Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Philippines. The term "triple win" refers to the benefits for the migrant and the labour market in the country of origin, the shortage sector in the country of destination and the development stimulus received by the country of origin through remittances.
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.