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All workers, migrants and nationals, should be treated equally, according to the international labour standards established in ILO Conventions and Recommendations.
The best way to protect migrants is to ensure that all workers, both migrants and nationals, benefit from minimum international labour standards — as established in the ILO's Conventions and Recommendations. These standards help ensure that economic development is pursued not as an
end in itself but rather as a means to improve people's lives.
Of these, certain standards are considered to form the foundation
of equitable social and economic development. These are the 'Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work' and cover four areas:
- • Freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively
- • Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour
- • Effective abolition of child labour
- • Elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation
Specifically for migrant workers there are five up-to-date instruments — two Conventions and three Recommendations: - • Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) and
Recommendation (Revised) 1949, (No. 86)
- • Protection of Migrant Workers (Underdeveloped Countries)
Recommendation, 1955 (No. 100)
- • Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No.
143) and the Migrant Workers Recommendation, 1975 (No. 151).
In addition to the ILO instruments there is a UN Migrant Workers Convention — the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
In 2004, the International Labour Conference called upon the ILO and its constituents to develop a non-binding multilateral framework for a rights-based approach to labour migration. This Multilateral Framework has now been adopted. It includes detailed descriptions of policies and laws that can serve as models for policy reform in some 20 specific areas, allowing countries to align their national policies in a flexible way with international principles.
What the ILO can offer
The ILO is the global body that enables the international community to set labour standards. These standards are then supervised by Committees of Experts, which receive reports and complaints, and make the appropriate observations.
In addition, ILO staff support the social partners in their efforts to apply these standards. By collecting information on a global basis they can, for example, offer examples of best practice that other countries can follow.
The main sources of support on migration for Asia and the Pacific are the Asian Programme on the Governance of Labour Migration, based in Bangkok, and the International Migration Programme, based in Geneva.
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