Global: ITUC Migrant Recruitment Advisor

A new web platform aimed at migrant workers lists user reviews of recruitment agencies. By helping migrants avoid falling for false promises, the website is an important tool to promote fair recruitment.

While millions of workers migrate in search of a better life for themselves and their families, far too many are tricked by false promises made by unscrupulous recruitment agencies, including fake jobs, lower wages and unsafe working conditions. Some end up trapped in forced labour and other forms of modern slavery.

A new web platform has been launched to help protect migrant workers from abusive employment practices by providing them with peer-to-peer reviews about recruitment agencies in their country of origin and destination.

The Recruitment Advisor  platform developed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), with support from the ILO Fair Recruitment initiative , lists thousands of agencies in Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The platform allows workers to comment on their experiences, rate the recruitment agencies and learn about their rights. Initially available in English, Indonesian, Nepali and Tagalog, it will be further developed in more languages.

Governments provided the list of licensed agencies, and a network of trade unions and civil society organizations  in all target countries ensures the sustainability of the platform by reaching out to workers. Ultimately the system will promote recruiters who follow a fair recruitment process, based on the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment, and will provide useful feedback to governments regarding the practices of licensed recruitment agencies, which could be used to complement more traditional monitoring systems.

Recruitment is a critical stage when migrant workers are more vulnerable to abuse. “Unscrupulous recruitment agencies take advantage of the lack of law enforcement by governments or because workers are simply not aware of their rights,” says ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow. “It’s time to put power back into workers’ hands to rate the recruitment agencies and show whether their promises of jobs and wages are delivered.”

Typically, many workers are not aware that they should not pay recruitment fees to get a job. This principle is key and has been listed as one of the ILO principles to ensure fair recruitment.

“This platform can help migrant workers make critical choices at the time of planning their journey to work in a foreign country. We know that when a worker is recruited fairly, the risk of ending in forced labour is drastically reduced,” says ILO technical specialist Alix Nasri. “We strongly encourage workers to share their experiences so others can learn from them. A critical mass of reviews is needed for the platform to be really helpful for migrants.”

Locked down and in limbo: The global impact of COVID-19 on migrant worker rights and recruitment

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on migrant workers and their access to decent work. Beyond the immediate public health crisis, response measures including lockdowns and border closures had specific implications for the hiring and employment conditions of migrant workers. These measures have increased the vulnerability of migrant workers at the same time as the economic and social dependence on migrant workers who deliver essential services such as healthcare and sanitation has deepened.

To chart and understand this impact in detail, the ILO commissioned a series of rapid assessments in some of the world’s most significant corridors for low-wage migrant workers. Completed in the initial months of the crisis (early to mid-2020), these assessments gathered primary data in the form of interviews and surveys from the perspective of migrant workers and key stakeholders (including governments, civil society, the recruitment sector, employers’ organizations, unions and workers’ organizations) engaged in migration governance, migrant worker deployment and the protection of the rights of migrant workers.

These rapid assessments provide valuable snapshots of the immediate impact of the pandemic and early responses to the pandemic on migrant workers in various parts of the world. Common themes emerging from the research also illustrate the ways in which the pandemic exacerbated existing inequalities and vulnerabilities experienced by migrant workers globally. These themes demonstrate the clear linkages between the impact of the pandemic on migrant workers and the structural causes of the inequalities and vulnerabilities embedded in many current labour migration processes and practices.

Drawing on the rapid assessments, this report provides a global picture of the impact of the crisis on migrant workers, and provides valuable recommendations for ensuring protection of migrant workers’ rights.

Reporting on forced labour and fair recruitment: An ILO toolkit for journalists in Uzbekistan

This toolkit is a national adaptation of the Global ILO toolkit for journalists , edited by ILO consultants Beruniy Alimov and Charles Autheman. This adaptation was produced under the ILO project ”From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour (Bridge Project)” , funded by the US Department of Labor.