On 6th October 2020, the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Cross-Regional Centre for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) and Civil Society Action Committee (CSAC), jointly organised a panel discussion on Objective 6 of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) which aims to “Facilitate Fair and Ethical Recruitment and Safeguard Conditions That Ensure Decent Work”.
The session was moderated by Ms. Roula Hamati, who is the Coordinator of the Cross-Regional Centre for Refugees and Migrants, Lebanon. Ms. Hamati gave a brief introduction about the Objective 6 of the GCM and pointed out that it mainly focuses on labour migration and decent work. Around 2/3rds of total migrants are labour migrants. Due to COVID-19, migrant workers, documented or undocumented, have been affected the most by lay-offs, lack of social protection and reduced wages. Incentives do not cover migrant workers who often tend to do dirty, dangerous and demeaning jobs.
Decent Work-Through Fair Recruitment
Ms. Hamati initiated the discussion by asking Mr. Shabari Nair to reflect upon the critical discussions in relation to decent work and labour migration today. Mr. Nair, who is the Labour Migration Specialist for South Asia at ILO, responded by comparing the recruitment process of 45 years ago with that of today. Mr. Nair highlighted that while low skilled migrant workers were in demand in Gulf countries back then, now, the recruitment system has changed from demand driven to supply driven, with the disproportionate increase in supply of migrant workers.
“Today, it’s almost like an auction of workers… where workers are being auctioned off to the lowest bidder and for which the workers themselves have to pay”: Mr. Shabari Nair
Objective 6 of the GCM is the only objective which mentions the word ‘Decent Work’ in the title. Fair recruitment is an important facet while considering decent work. Mr. Nair highlighted the need for creating job opportunities in the home country and enabling decent work at home, which are the preconditions for ensuring fair recruitment.
Concerns of Women Migrant Workers
Ms. Jean D’Cunha, UN Women’s Senior Global Advisor on International Migration, shifted the focus towards decent work for women in the context of migration. Ms. Jean highlighted certain issues/hindrances faced by women in recruitment and migration:
- Male biased laws and cultural practices
- Immigration policies which discriminate against women migrants based on place, age, country etc.
- Lack of access to education, training and information.
- No or fewer assets than men to pay for the migration expenditure.
- Fewer legal/decent job options for women.
- Majority of women are recruited into women specific informal sector jobs which include domestic work, commercial sex sector or agriculture sector, where they tend to suffer gross human rights violations.
- Privatised/isolated nature of domestic work which results in the workers often being trapped with abusers.
- Illegal wage deduction, forced labour, debt bondage and lack of mechanisms for monitoring complaints.
To address these concerns, Ms. Jean suggested:
- Reformation of the Kafala system and employment-based visas to ensure that workers are able to change their jobs and renew their own documents, without employers taking unfair advantage of them.
- More legal migration pathways that protect the rights of women migrant workers.
- Laws on violence against women- covering all women, including undocumented migrants, as in the case of Spain.
- Fight against xenophobia, racism, sexism and nationalist othering.
- Alternatives to detention and deportation such as regularisation programs, or establishing safe, dignified and paid deportation.
- Discussion of these issues at regional and global forums.
Role of Private sector
Mr. Philip Hunter, the Head of Labour Migration Unit, IOM, threw light on the role of the private sector in promoting safe and ethical recruitment. According to Mr. Hunter, a lot has already been done in the context of supply chains by global brands. Global commitments made by private companies in consumer product space like clothes, smart phones, computers etc, already have a strong focus on fair and ethical recruitment.
“There is a strong focus on fair and ethical recruitment with the entry point for most of these companies being the risk to brand reputation and the risk to legal challenges and scrutiny faced of their supply chains by investigative reporters, civil society, labour movements, over conditions related to the risks of forced labour and human trafficking.”: Mr. Philip Hunter
Leading companies have been involved in conversations about labour migration and the gaps in labour migration governance, since the past few years. Although a lot of work has been pioneered by the private sector in the consumer industries, there are many industries and companies producing for local markets that are completely absent from supply chain strategies and approaches regarding fair recruitment, which Mr. Hunter points out as a big gap that needs to be addressed.
Decent work in Informal Economy
Ms. Shalmali Guttal, Executive Director, Focus on the Global South, laid emphasis on the need to address structural conditions of inequality, discrimination, insecurity and indebtedness, which the policy documents failed to address so far.Ms. Guttal also pointed out that corporate globalisation has failed in its promise of creating jobs and economic prosperity. Due to the economic crisis, environmental destruction and land grabbing, poverty has increased, which in turn led to the creation of a mass of workers in the informal sector.
“Factories in South East Asian countries, where workers are forced to work with flexible contracts, have high debts and they work over time so they can take on additional informal work.”: Ms. Shalmali Guttal
Most governments, due to COVID-19, are resorting to corporations for economic recovery programs to recoup their losses, while labour laws have been relaxed across Asia to enable this.
Ms. Guttal provided certain action points to overcome these issues like empowering the public realm, regulation of corporations, addressing the structural deficits to ensure rights-based migration regime, renewal of investment and free trade agreements based on migrant rights perspective and strengthening of the right to form trade unions.
Impediments Caused by Non-Enforcement
Mr. Patrick Taran, President of the Global Migration Policy Associates, highlighted the absence of measures to ensure the protection of human rights of workers. Mr. Taran lamented that rights of migrant workers are not enforced, resulting in denial of justice, welfare and wellbeing of migrant workers. Although there is no official data available, just by estimates, almost 2000-3000 workers in the Middle East die every year. Countries like Canada, South Korea and Czech Republic, send back injured migrant workers as soon as they can be put on a plane to avoid the responsibility. In Europe, if migrant workers from any neighbouring country get killed, their bodies are often put in the trunk of a car and dumped across the borders to their home country. International Labour Standards apply formally to all migrant workers, but they are not rightly implemented or enforced.
“If these standards (International Labour Standards) are not in law or in bilateral agreements where conventions aren’t ratified, we end up with 7no’s- No compliance, No effective monitoring, No supervision, No enforcement, No complaint mechanism, No compensation and No data”: Mr. Patrick Taran
Therefore, Mr. Taran promoted ratification, implementation and enforcement of International Labour Standards in the destination countries for all migrant workers.
Ms. Myrtle Witbooi, President of International Domestic Workers Federation, concluded the session by reminding us to remember the voices of the migrants. Ms. Witbooi stressed on the responsibility of governments in keeping a track of migrants and ensuring their safe migration.Slavery and abuse of migrants must be stopped, international agencies must be more proactive and connect to the grassroots, and access to education must be ensured globally. The quest for solutions to the issues of migrant workers should not be hindered and it’s our responsibility to ensure that they are going to survive the pandemic without being driven to the edges of precarity.
Mohsina Noorien, the writer is an MPhil graduate from the Centre for West Asian Studies Jamia Millia Islamia. Her areas of interest include identity politics, conflict and security, foreign policy, bilateral relations, diplomacy and refugee crisis. Twitter: @MohsinaNoorien.