Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

1.  The Committee notes that no report including up-to-date information on all fields covered by the Convention has been received for years. However, as it emphasized in its 1999 General Survey on migrant workers, international migration for employment has undergone significant changes in extent, direction and nature since the adoption of the Convention (see General Survey, paragraphs 5-7). The Committee therefore requests the Government to send copies of any new legislation or regulations adopted as well as current information in response to the matters contained in the report form for the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate how current trends in migratory flows have had an impact on the content and application of its national policy and legislation on emigration and immigration.

2.  The Committee draws the Government’s attention to Article 6 of the Convention, in particular, and requests it to supply information on the practical application of its policy of equality of treatment between national workers and migrant workers in the matters enumerated in subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this Article. Recalling that under paragraph 1 of this Article any State which has ratified the Convention undertakes to apply, without discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, treatment no less favourable than that which it applies to its own nationals in respect of the matters listed in subparagraphs (a)‑(d) of the Article, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that female migrant workers are treated on the same equal footing as their male counterparts, foreigner or other, in regard to their living conditions and conditions of employment, social security, employment-linked taxes and access to legal proceedings - in view of the increasing feminization of migrant workers (see the abovementioned General Survey, paragraphs 20-23 and 658).

3.  Article 8 of the Convention was one of those most often mentioned by Governments as raising difficulties of application when the General Survey was carried out (paragraphs 600-608 of the survey), and the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply information on the practical application of maintenance of the right of residence in the event of disability of migrant workers who have been admitted on a permanent basis upon arrival or after a certain period.

4.  In view of the growing role played by private agencies in the international migration process, the Government is requested to indicate the impact of this evolution on the application of Annexes I and II of the Convention which deal, respectively, with recruitment, placing and conditions of labour of migrants for employment recruited otherwise than under government-sponsored arrangements for group transfer, on the one hand, and recruitment, placing and conditions of labour of migrants for employment recruited under government-sponsored arrangements for group transfer, on the other. As emphasized in the abovementioned General Survey, although the privatization of placement activities has proved its effectiveness, it also has negative aspects: false offers of employment, misleading publicity, exorbitant fees, untrue statements on the nature of the work and conditions of employment, etc. The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to regulate the activities of private agencies or to encourage self-regulation in order to protect migrant workers against possible abuses as well as the sanctions incurred for violations, particularly in the case of misleading propaganda.