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

This toolkit provides information and advice to media professionals on how to report accurately and effectively on forced labour and fair recruitment. The toolkit includes the Media-friendly glossary on migration.

This toolkit is available in: Arabic, English, French, Spanish.

The toolkit has been adapted to the national context in:

• Mongolia (English and Mongolian)

• Nepal (English)

• Nigeria (forthcoming)

• Pakistan (English)

• Sri Lanka (English, Sinhala and Tamil)

• Uganda (forthcoming)

• Uzbekistan (English and Uzbek)

• Viet Nam (English, Vietnamese).

Click on each language to open the corresponding toolkit.

The Montreal recommendations on recruitment: A road map towards better regulation

This resource presents policymakers and regulators with practical guidance and ideas to improve regulation and oversight of international recruitment and protection of migrant workers. It covers a broad range of themes, including the following:

a) recruitment fees;

b) licensing and registration of labour recruiters;

c) inspections and enforcement;

d) access to grievance mechanisms and dispute resolution;

e) bilateral and multilateral mechanisms; and

f) migrant welfare and assistance.

The guidance results from a global conference held in Montreal, Canada, that brought together leading experts and practitioners from more than 30 countries around the world. It reflects an important milestone in global efforts to promote ethical recruitment.

Global Study on Recruitment Fees and Related Costs

A global study that examines the laws and policies of 90 countries, as well as numerous bilateral labour agreements and multi-stakeholder initiatives to identify the efforts Member States have made to regulate or prohibit recruitment fees and costs charged to workers. The global study supported the ILO’s adoption of the Definition of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs, which is to be read in conjunction with the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines on Fair Recruitment.

This Global Comparative Study on Recruitment Fees and Related Costs was prepared ahead of the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Recruitment Fees and Related Costs, which took place in Geneva from 14 to 16 November 2018. It brings together the findings from five regional reports that examined 90 national government responses, 18 bilateral agreements and 12 multistakeholder initiatives. The analysis of findings provides a clearer picture of how Member States have addressed the issue of recruitment fees and related costs at the policy level. Overall, the report advances ILO’s work on promoting Fair Recruitment, in particular to reduce recruitment fees and related costs paid by workers.

ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative Strategy 2021-2025. Taking stock, moving forward

The Fair Recruitment Initiative (FRI) was launched in 2014 as part of the ILO Fair Migration Agenda. Since its launch, the FRI has been critical to ILO’s work in the area of national and international recruitment of workers and has added renewed impetus and visibility to this important topic. The 2021-2025 Strategy will continue to be grounded in relevant international labour standards (ILS), global guidance, and social dialogue between governance institutions and actors of the labour market.

Trade union action to promote fair recruitment for migrant workers

This brief highlights trade union action to promote and protect fair recruitment for migrant workers through actions including policy advocacy, service provision and outreach.

10 good practices for a fair recruitment - CIERTO: Agency dedicated to the fair recruitment of agricultural workers

The fact sheets that integrate this document present ten recruitment Good Practices implemented by CIERTO and their relationship to the ILO General Principles and Operational Guidelines. Each one describes its procedure, establishes its direct and indirect benefits and describes its alignment with these General Principles.

With this document, CIERTO seeks to divulge effective and alternative models of labour migration recruitment in compliance with labour rights, laws and regulations that have a strong impact on the recruitment of migrant workers.

It represents a technical cooperation exercise that reflects on efforts to improve fair and ethical recruitment.

Establishing Fair Recruitment Processes: An ILO online training toolkit

In cooperation with ITC-ILO, the REFRAME project has produced a comprehensive modular training manual on fair recruitment to support its constituents to design, support and implement fair recruitment practices.

This training course is available as an interactive version (online) and as individual downloadable modules (PDF). It contains five modules covering different aspects of fair recruitment. This training manual is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Ensuring fair recruitment for decent work - A mini guide for trade unions

This mini guide focuses on how can trade unions advance fair recruitment and what is fair recruitment. 

The mini guide is available in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish.

Guidance on bilateral labour migration agreements

Bilateral labour migration agreements if based on international labour standards can be a key tool in labour migration governance which ensures safe, orderly and regular labour migration.

To support the development of such agreements, this guidance was produced by a multi-stakeholder thematic working group under the United Nations Network on Migration, co-chaired by ILO with IOM.

It contains practical guidance grounded in international labour and human rights standards and drawing from real examples around the world. It shows how social dialogue benefits the development, implementation and monitoring of these agreements, and can be used as a basis for training and preparing for negotiation of bilateral labour migration agreements.

Practical guide on developing labour migration policies

This guide is intended to provide practical and succinct guidance on the process to be undertaken by ILO constituents governments, workers’ organizations, employers’ organizations, in consultation with civil society organizations and other relevant partners, during the course of developing or revising a national labour migration strategy, policy and/or action plan.