ITC-ILO training: Monitoring and enforcement of recruitment regulations - Establishing Fair Recruitment Processes

By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

• Understand governments’ responsibilities in regards to the monitoring and enforcement of recruitment regulations
• Have an introductory knowledge of the use of monitoring as an enforcement mechanism and its contribution to ensuring the fair recruitment of workers
• Recognize the key challenges associated with complaints mechanisms and access to justice for workers, including migrant workers
• Explore the most commonly used legislative mechanisms for prosecuting recruitment abuses
• Appreciate the particular role of trade unions and non-governmental organizations in promoting and monitoring fair recruitment
• Become familiar with pilot initiatives of workers’ organizations to protect and empower workers during the recruitment and placement process
• Become acquainted with self-regulation mechanisms adopted by private recruitment agencies

Regulating labour recruitment to prevent human trafficking and to foster fair migration: Models, challenges and opportunities

This working paper presents the role of international labour standards in regulating recruitment and provides a preliminary overview of national laws, policies, regulations and enforcement mechanism which aim to prevent fraudulent recruitment practices and protect workers from unscrupulous labour recruiters. It aims to establish a framework and an initial baseline for the implementation of the second strategic pillar of the ILO’s Fair Recruitment Initiative – strengthening laws, policies and enforcement mechanisms to protect workers from abusive and fraudulent recruitment practices.

Overall, the paper addresses three main research questions:

• What are the main international labour standards with regards to labour recruitment and how have the ILO supervisory bodies assessed national regulation and its implementation?
• What are the different models and approaches to regulate labour recruitment? What are the most recent trends in terms of statutory regulation?
• How are private employment agencies monitored and how are statutory regulations enforced? What are the main challenges with regards to enforcement?

The paper also provides recommendations based on emerging national and regional experiences and identifies research gaps which should be tackled in the coming years.

Conducting Labour Inspections on Construction - A guide for labour inspectors

The objective of this guide is to assist labour inspectors fulfil their inspectorial function by providing information, in a user friendly format on, a suggested methodology for conducting inspections of construction activities; from planning to reporting on the inspection, as well as providing technical information which labour inspectors can supply to employers and workers, so as to ensure “Decent Work”.

The construction sector plays an essential role in the socio-economic development of many countries, not least through the number of workers engaged in construction activities. However the employment relationship, the legal link between employers and workers, in construction activities is often unclear and this regularly results with workers not having access to certain rights and benefits, combined with this, workers are often exposed to many hazards. These factors mean that working conditions on many construction sites cannot be considered as “Decent work”, workers do not have a fair, just, safe and healthy working environment.

Inspections conducted by labour inspectors have an important role in ensuring compliance with legislation and thus decent working conditions for workers in all sectors, including construction. The guide details many of the working conditions that labour inspectors will address, namely, the employment relationship, representation rights, salaries and wages, working hours and holidays, employment of young person’s and foreign nationals as well as the hazards that workers can be exposed to. Internationally recognised safety measures are documented that, if followed, will reduce the likelihood of workers suffering from accidents and diseases.

Recruitment Monitoring & Migrant Welfare Assistance: What Works?

As numbers of temporary labour migrants have rapidly increased over the past four decades, facilitating international migration has become a highly profitable and multi-faceted business. Human rights defenders, civil society organisations, journalists and academics have consistently exposed exploitation of migrants which occurs during recruitment processes. Abuses include high recruitment fees that lead to debt bondage, the processing of fake employment and immigration documents, confiscation of identity documents, and emotional and physical violence, or even trafficking for forced labour. On arriving in many destination countries migrants are left unprotected and vulnerable to more exploitation.

This study, conducted by an international research team between January and April 2014, reviews existing recruitment monitoring mechanisms and migrants’ access to rights and welfare assistance across Colombo Process Member States (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam), and key destination states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen).  With analysis presented thematically, the report concludes with a series of recommendations for Colombo Process governments.

Global labour recruitment in a supply chain context

This working paper discusses regulatory models and other measures available to stop abusive recruitment practices. It seeks to explain why the labour recruitment market operates as it does, and to propose responses that combat those market forces which create an environment conducive to abuse and fraud.

The paper suggests an approach that reshapes the market for recruitment services by engaging with employers in destination countries at the top of the labour supply chain, who could play a key role in influencing the recruitment business worldwide.

It presents several case studies through which this approach was tested through regulatory efforts, such as the Philippines, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, several Canadian provinces; and in three agreements negotiated with employers by United States agricultural workers’ organizations to govern the terms of recruitment for migrant workers further down the chain.

This paper draws on these public and private sectors’ case studies to propose regulatory and market approaches that promote fair recruitment practices.