UNI calls for rights-based approach to migration
UNI has joined forces with other global unions to call for a rights-based approach to the governance and management of migration at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), held in Port Louis, Mauritius, from 19-22 November 2012.
Noting widespread abuse of the rights of migrant workers, in their statement to the GFMD, the Council of Global Unions challenged the current deregulatory approach to labour migration, which prioritises economic imperatives and special interests over workers’ rights.
Furthermore, the Global Unions called for the creation of decent jobs and quality public services in order to promote equality and prosperity for all. They also stressed the need to place migration debates, policies and programmes within the United Nations (UN) regulatory framework and insisted that the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration (HLD), which will be held in New York in September 2013, must give the ILO a key role in the regulation of migration and ensure real participation for civil society.
During a presentation to one of the GFMD break-out sessions, the Global Unions’ representative, Dennis Sinyolo, called upon governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders “to tackle barriers to mobility and challenges faced by migrant workers worldwide.”
Sinyolo added: “The lack of information and data on migration, visa restrictions and bureaucratic registration processes, non-recognition of qualifications and deskilling and general wide-spread abuse are common challenges faced by migrant workers” across sectors.
“Abuses and violations of migrant workers’ rights, widespread discrimination and xenophobia are some of the most serious challenges confronting us today.”
To deal with these challenges and reverse the negative trends, UNI Global Union’s Director for Professionals and Managers, Pav Akhtar, also called on: “Governments and international agencies to provide sufficient information and data on migration, institute mechanisms to facilitate mutual recognition of qualifications, invest in education and training, promote ethical recruitment and decent work for all.”
He went on to say: “In order to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers, governments must ratify UN and ILO Migrant Conventions and ensure their full implementation.”
UNI Global Union is actively seeking to implement and monitor its global agreements with the biggest recruitment agencies because the need to regulate their activities will contribute towards a curbing of the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers’ rights. Such agreements are already in place with agencies including Manpower, Randstad and Adecco.
The GFMD was preceded by a series of meetings coordinated by the Council of Global Unions’ Task Force on Migration, which met with civil society actors in Brussels during September and October. The Task Force discussed strategies for implementing a robust international framework, under the auspices of the UN and ILO, to support migration and enable migrant workers to access rights irrespective of which sector or country they might be working in across the globe.
The next GFMD will be hosted by Sweden in 2014, following the UN High Level Dialogue on Migration in 2013.
To read the GFMD Statement, please click on the following related file above.