Labour inspection and monitoring of recruitment of migrant workers

With a view towards contributing to achieving fair recruitment of migrant workers, this paper offers an overview of the main challenges pertaining to monitoring of recruitment of migrant workers by labour inspectorates, along with suggested ways forward and pointers for possible action by the ILO.

Labour inspection responsibilities extend to all stages of the recruitment process. The ILO General Principle for Fair Recruitment 5 states that “Regulation of employment and recruitment activities should be clear and transparent and effectively enforced. The role of the labour inspectorate and the use of standardized registration, licensing or certification systems should be highlighted.” Furthermore, Operational Guideline 5.1 outlining the responsibilities of governments indicates that: "Governments should work to ensure that there is an effective and sufficiently resourced labour inspectorate, and that it is empowered and trained to investigate and intervene at all stages of the recruitment process for all workers and all enterprises, and to monitor and evaluate the operations of all labour recruiters.” However, inspection of recruitment processes remains challenging – leaving many vulnerable workers (including migrant workers and those in the informal economy), exposed to exploitation and abuse.

In order to further expand knowledge and advocacy on the role of the labour inspectorate in ensuring fair recruitment, the ILO Labour Migration branch and the Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health branch commissioned a brief on fair recruitment and labour inspection, with the contribution of several projects (EU-REFRAME, SDC-FAIR II and SIDA-JLMP).

 

Extracts of the first thematic dialogue of Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Countries

This video presents extracts of the first thematic dialogue of Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Countries. The online event brought together members of the Alliance to discuss how to accelerate progress towards target 8.7 of the 2030 sustainable development goals. This target seeks to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labour.

The thematic dialogue, held in May 2022, focused on the topic of recruitment, and what practical measures are taken by governments and social partners to promote fair recruitment in their respective countries.

 

In these videos we present speakers from Mexico and from Tunisia.

In the first video, we hear from Maestra Ingrid CEBALLOS, the General Director for Institutional Affairs, in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of the Government of Mexico. Maestra CEBALLOS is also the co-chair ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative’s advisory committee.

We then hear from Mrs Luz Maria CHOMBO, Certification Manager for the employer’s organisation AHIFORES (International Horticultural Alliance for the Promotion of Social Responsibility).

In this video, we hear from Mr. Ahmed MESSAOUDI, Director General at the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment; Mr. MESSAOUDI is a member of the Advisory Committee of the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative. We then hear from Mr. Abdelkader Mhadhbi from the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT).

The webinar was facilitated by Ms. Laura de Franchis (ILO, Geneva), and organised by Ms. Gaëla Roudy Fraser (ILO, Geneva) as part of the implementation of the Integrated Programme on Fair Recruitment (FAIR, phase II) supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

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