Migrant workers are often exploited during the recruitment and deployment phases of the migration cycle by labour brokers or recruiters that charge excessive fees, provide misleading information about the job offer and exploit aspirant migrant workers through false promises and coercion. This exploitation is often discovered during employment audits or labour inspection in countries of work, when the damage has already been done and requires remediation by employers or governments.
Conclusion:
To Conclude, I would like to make a few recommendations for consideration by this august Forum;
- Firstly, it is important for governments to domesticate all the relevant ILO Conventions on the rights of migrant workers and their families in all its aspects;
- We need to provide policy guidelines and legal frameworks to facilitate the remittance transfers by migrant workers to their families or countries of origin;
- Employers should provide the necessary conditions to ensure decent work including provision of reception facilities and means to facilitate contact their families back home as living abroad can be lonely and sometimes depressing.
- Given the important contribution to the economies of their home countries, I would urge the government to put in place the relevant mechanism to ensure Fair and Ethical recruitment of Ghanaian for work Abroad and to review some of the Foreign Recruitment Processes by Private Employment Agencies.
IMPRAC which is headed by a distinguished Ghanaian with over 30 years of experience with the UN Migration Agency – IOM, providing both policy and operational support and assistance to governments and migrants is willing and readily available to provide the required support to the government, migrants and Ghanaians willing to travel abroad for work.
Finally, I would urge the organizers to ensure that the outcome of this meeting is operationalized to influence and contribute to the policy debate on Fair and Ethical Recruitment of Ghanaians for descent work abroad.
