Migrant Protection and Assistance

Thai authorities have enacted legislation to assist migrant sea-fishers, who are amongst the most vulnerable workers, by fighting illegal and unregulated fishing and labour abuses.

Following the Valetta Summit on Migration, the EU agreed on the Valetta Action plan --an extensive, balanced and efficient implementation plan built around five priority fields:

• addressing root causes of irregular migration
• promoting legal migration and mobility
• reinforcing of protection
• preventing and fighting smuggling and human trafficking
• strengthening cooperation in return and reintegration.

Through the  European Agenda on Migration, the EU aims to provide its Member States with tools to build up a coherent and comprehensive approach to reap the benefits and address the challenges deriving from migration, in the medium as well as long term.The European Commission's agenda on migration sets out a European response, combining internal and external policies, making best use of EU agencies and tools, and involving all actors.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has issued a brochure that aims to inform guest workers arriving in the United Arab Emirates. The short (10 page) brochure summarizes 10 important things to know for newly arriving migrants, including information on recruitment costs, personal identification, starting work, contract termination and moving to a new employer.

The MOU signed by the two parties in 2013 aims to enhance cooperation on domestic worker recruitment in a way which realizes the interests of both countries and securies the rights of both workers and employers.

Under this MOU th charging or deducting from salary any cost attendant to recruitment and deployment from workers’ salaries is prohibited.

In 2009, Jordan and Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning domestic workers which covers not only the costs migrants incur at the pre-departure stage, but also while at the destination and even upon return.

Although domestic workers are explicitly excluded from protections under the Labour Law in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries, in June 2015 a separate law regulating the domestic work sector was adopted by Kuwait’s national assembly, providing some labour rights to this vulnerable group of workers – including a minimum wage. The lack of a credible mechanism to enforce this law remains a shortcoming however.

6Degree.org is a crowdfunding portal to support voluntary return and sustainable integration of human trafficking victims launched in 2015 through a partnership between IOM and Microsoft. The site is backed by Microsoft Azure cloud-computing platform, while IOM provides the resources to help human trafficking victims. The platform meets IOM`s strict requirements for victim privacy and protection and is in place not only help victims, but also to raise awareness for human trafficking and enhance the global commitment to stopping it.

The Tunisian National Strategy for Migration includes all the developments of the migration profile of Tunisians and refers to the human rights values entrenched in the second republic's constitution and in bilateral and multilateral aggreements related to migration. The strategy paper gives special attention to Tunisian living abroad, in order to protect their rights and to actively involve them to the political and economic transitions of the country.

The national strategy for migration has been decreed with the following main themes: 

The government’s "Assist WELL" Program caters to returning Filipino migrant workers displaced from their jobs due to war, epidemic, calamities, and other critical situations at their worksites.

The acronym WELL refers to 'Welfare, Employment, Livelihood, and Legal services' offered by the Labor Department to overseras Filipinos workers, with the participation of its attached agencies.