Migration in the United Nations

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 African Institute for Remittances (AIR) is a specialized technical office of the African Union Commission (AUC) established to assist the AU Member States to:

(a) improve their statistical measurement, compiling and reporting capabilities on remittances data;

(b) Promote appropriate changes to their legal and regulatory frameworks for remittances, payment and settlement systems as well as use of innovative technology so as to promote greater competition and efficiency, resulting in reductions of transfer costs; and

The ILO’s SKILLS-AP programme and the Department for Human Resource Development Services of Korea (HRD Korea), as a part of a long-standing partnership, initiated in 2006 a project on recognizing the newly acquired skills of migrant workers.

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a programme of assessment and analysis of adult skills. The major survey conducted as part of PIAAC is the Survey of Adult Skills. The Survey measures adults’ proficiency in key information-processing skills - literacy, numeracy and problem solving - and gathers information and data on how adults use their skills at home, at work and in the wider community.

The EU Immigration Portal serves as a first point of entry to reliable, practical and up-to-date information on immigration issues. It provides useful basic information written in user-friendly language and gives rapid and direct access to relevant external websites for further information. In concrete terms, the portal helps potential migrants to:

- Better understand the EU admission rules and procedures;

- Identify job and study opportunities;

- Find information on the rights of non-EU citizens who are in the EU;

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.

The CPMRS project, launched by UNICEF in 2006 in association with key government and university partners, was intended to develop an integrated child protection system in the six tsunami-affected provinces in southern Thailand. The project was expected to: increase public awareness of children’s rights to protection; track the magnitude of child protection issues at local, provincial and national levels in Thailand; and provide adequate response mechanisms for identifying children in need of special protection and for delivering suitable child protection services as early as possible.

The UK signed up to the WHO Code of Practice in the International recruitment of health personnel. National Health Service in the UK strongly advised to adhere to the code of practice in all matters concerning international recruitment of health care professionals across all disciplines. 

TOKTEN is jointly administered by UNDP and UNV (UN Volunteers). Inaugurated in 1977, it aims to transfer technical expertise of expatriates through short term consultancies in their countries of origin. These are not envisaged as employment missions, but rather as short-term voluntary services. 

The Migration Resource Centers (MRCs) provide correct information on labour migration process, wages, working conditions and employment opportunities in destination countries (Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia) in a joint ILO/IOM effort. The recent DIFD-ILO project seeks to promote "no fee" migration corridors as part of efforts to combat forced labour.