Decent Work

The Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, launched in September 2021 by the UN Secretary-General, signals the UN system’s collective response for addressing the multiple challenges that threaten to erase development progress.

The goal is to accelerate the global actions needed to promote a job-rich recovery and a just ecological, technological and social transition to more sustainable and inclusive economies. 

The project PEM N'Zassa, which is deeply rooted in the two countries in which it is being implemented, Côte d'Ivoire and Belgium, aims to support the entrepreneurial ecosystems in each country. The project proposes a circular mobility model for 120 Ivorian entrepreneurs and SME employees who have developed an innovative entrepreneurial project, and for whom mobility to Belgium represents an opportunity to create value.

This circular mobility scheme makes knowledge and practical exchange possible between Belgian and Senegalese companies. With a view to building the capacities of Senegalese entrepreneurs and connecting them to their Belgian peers, the project aims to offer short-term migration opportunities for business purposes while contributing to the construction of a sustainable economic partnership between the two countries.

This project intended to experiment and test the Global Skills Partnership (GSP) model between Morocco and Belgium, and thereby facilitate the cooperation between the two countries in the management of regular migration.

The ILO Guidelines for a Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies for All, adopted by representatives of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations in 2015, provide a policy framework and an operational tool to address environmental change in a way that advances social justice and promotes decent work creation.1 This policy brief is part of a series of briefs that seek to deepen the technical and policy understanding of the application of the Just Transition Guidelines.

A Global Skill Partnership is a bilateral labor migration agreement between equal partners. The country of destination agrees to provide technology and finance to train potential migrants with targeted skills in the country of origin, prior to migration, and gets migrants with precisely the skills they need to integrate and contribute best upon arrival. The country of origin agrees to provide that training and gets support for the training of non-migrants too – increasing rather than draining human capital.

The U.S. government is committed to ensuring high labor standards, bringing workers' voices to the decision-making table, and enforcing rules against unfair labor practices – not just at home, but around the world. That is why President Biden launched the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, the first whole-of-government approach to advance workers’ rights by directing departments and agencies to elevate labor rights in their work abroad.

The Presidential Memorandum on Global Labor Rights helps to:

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has been campaigning for comprehensive immigration and labour law reform to ensure decent work and rights for all workers, regardless of immigration status, and has developed a series of tools and resources to facilitate migrants’ awareness of their rights. 

The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) has been reaching out to trade unions in destination countries to ensure the protection of Nepalese migrant workers. They have moreover signed agreements and MoUs with trade unions in Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and the Republic of Korea to enhance Nepalese workers' rights in these countries.

The group "Migrants CSC" informs and raises awareness among migrant workers (documented or undocumented) about their rights, the labour legislation in force in Belgium and the fight against all forms of exploitation and discrimination.

The service also responds to individual requests on issues such as work permits, extending residence permits, diploma equivalence, and validation of skills. 

In a nutshell: