Empowerment and Rights of Migrants

This project aims to enhance decent work opportunities for migrant domestic workers by reducing their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, and mitigating the adverse impact of migration on the families left behind. The project will works to:

a) enhance the global knowledge base on migration in global care chains though comparative, quantitative and qualitative research in selected countries;

b) raise awareness about human and labour rights of migrant domestic workers, including rights as key actors of social and economic development, and;

A research project focused on labour market integration of newly arrived immigrants in six EU countries. The project will provide new empirical evidence on the labour-market integration trajectories of these immigrants into middle-skilled jobs. Relying on a combination of data analysis, qualitative research, and interviews with policymakers and social partners.

The programme objective is to strengthen the capacity of policy makers and social partners to adopt and implement gender-sensitive labour migration policies, legislation and administration. This will be done by promoting:

i) the adoption and implementation of policies, legislation and administration for better regulation of labour migration flows;

ii) strategies to enhance social security coverage of migrant worker and their families, and;

iii) the improvement of skills’ matching between sending and receiving countries and reducing de-skilling.

A five-year, technical cooperation programme with a targeted approach for the trafficking of women and girls from South Asia. The objective is to reach 100,000 women and girls in major South Asian countries and major destination countries of South Asian workers for an overall reduction of incidences.

This ILO and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) partner project, aims to increase respect for the fundamental rights of workers in Jordan, particularly foreign migrant workers. It supports trade unions outreach to empower migrant workers, providing them with better services and information; it engages factory and QIZ managers, employers and recruitment agencies to increase awareness of workers’ rights; and supports labour-management cooperation aiming for more, better collective bargaining agreements in the QIZ and the construction sector.

This project aims to improve the working conditions of female migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. Awareness building activities about workers' rights were led for domestic workers, employers, employment agencies, teachers and social partners. The Ministry of Labour is a key partner in disseminating an informational guide. A hotline for migrant workers will also be established.

The regional advocacy initiative aims to determine ways in which national laws could be adapted to conform with the new international legal standards, as well as to examine the possibility of Arab States ratifying the Domestic Workers Convention. The program will focus on Bahrain, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman over a period of two years.

The project aims to develop a coherent framework of migration policy across national boundaries in order to ensure the rights of low skilled, rural female domestic workers from the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia) in the Middle East and Sudan. The project seeks to improve coordination and cooperation of social partners, civil society, institutions and organizations working on migration issues in Ethiopia, as well as in the receiving countries. It provides female domestic workers with accurate information prior to migration and with safe havens to turn to in emergencies.

The project works with Nepal's Ministry of Labour and Pakistan's Ministry of Human Resources to promote well-managed labour migration from South Asia. It works to ensure effective protection of the rights of vulnerable migrant workers and enhance the development impact of labour migration and reduce irregular flows. Specific objetives include:

a) providing reliable information on overseas employment opportunities and capacity building for job matching;

The “Promoting Decent Work through Improved Migration Policy and its Application in Bangladesh” project was initiated on a request from the Government of Bangladesh to the International Labour Organization (ILO) to assist the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE) and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) to improve the overall management of labour migration and to ensure protection and decent employment conditions to the Bangladeshi migrant workers.