Migrant Forum in Asia in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is organizing a webinar on: Access to Remedy for Migrant Workers. The webinar will be held on  Wednesday, 16 December 2020 at 4PM Manila time.

Register to join the webinar:
https://bit.ly/2VyWsb5

Many migrant workers are unable to access remedy or report abuses in the recruitment process, particularly those  related to recruitment fees and costs. According to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), businesses have a responsibility to respect, prevent and remedy human rights abuses in their operations. This means they are also responsible for providing remedies to victims where harm has occurred. The UNGP explains that remedy may include apologies, restitution, rehabilitation, financial or non-financial compensation and punitive sanctions (whether criminal or administrative, such as fines), as well as the prevention of harm through, for example, injunctions or guarantees of non-repetition.

The 2020 global comparative study by the International Labour Organization (ILO on defining recruitment fees and related costs states that payment of recruitment fees and  related costs significantly increases workers vulnerabilities to forced labour, debt bondage and human trafficking.[1] The ILO  finds that the “costs of coercion were approximately US$21 billion, with the total amount of underpaid wages estimated to be US$19.6 billion, with the remaining US$1.4 billion attributed to illegal recruitment fees” (ILO  2014b,  10). Recruitment fees and cost can amount several months of a worker’s salary.

This webinar will look at existing good practices on access to remedy for migrant workers who experience abuse in the recruitment process. Speakers of the webinar will include representatives from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and organization that work with the business sector in developing effective remediation process for workers.

The webinar will have the following objectives:

1. Share and learn about good practices on access to remedy for migrants who experience abuse in the recruitment process
2. Understand barriers for migrant workers to access effective remedy

The outcome of the webinar will contribute to a policy brief on migrant workers access to remedy and will serve as background document for a regional stakeholders’ consultation on recruitment reform that is will be held in 2021

Moderator

Dr. Chowdhurry Abrar, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU)

Resource Persons

Rosey Hurst, Impact Limited
Sumitha Shanthini Kishan, Our Journey Malaysia
Archana Kotecha, Remedy Project
Henry Rojas, Lawyers Beyond Borders Philippines

Participants:

The proposed participants of the webinar will include migrant civil society organizations, trade unions, private sector, international institutions including among others representatives from IOM and ILO.

Date and Time of Webinar:

The webinar will be held on Wednesday, 16 December 2020 at 4PM Manila time. To check the time in your country please click the link:  https://bit.ly/3mJNQuj

Background Materials

Please find below some background materials for the webinar

• Migrant Forum in Asia Policy Brief on Joint and Solidary Liability
• Impactt Repayment Standards Public November 2020
• Maximising the impact of the Repayment Standards November 2020

[1] Global Study on Recruitment Fees and Related Costs (International Labour Organization, 2020), xi, https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/publications/WCMS_761729/lang–en/index.htm