Developing and Implementing Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements

Although bilateral agreements can play an important role in protecting the labour rights of migrant workers, they often present significant shortcomings in terms of design, content, monitoring, implementation, and impact.

This toolkit has been developed based on the experiences of the ILO and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in providing technical support and advice on labour migration to governments, regional economic communities, and other partners. It aims to offer practical guidance on how to develop and implement effective bilateral labour migration agreements.

OBJECTIVES

The self-guided course aims to improve the governance of labour migration flows, strengthen the protection of migrant workers, and ensure that international recruitment and placement align with labour market needs.

After completing the different modules of the toolkit, participants will be able to:

• Recognize situations and priorities where the establishment of bilateral labour migration agreements adds value.

• Describe the steps involved in developing and implementing bilateral labour migration agreements.

• Critically assess agreements and identify options for improvement based on international standards and good practices.

• Understand how to apply relevant international human rights and labour standards in the context of bilateral labour migration agreements.

• Identify the key challenges and good practices in each phase of the Bilateral Labor Migration Agreements (BLMAs) process.

• Apply monitoring and evaluation tools to bilateral labour migration agreements.

CONTENT

The toolkit consists of four modules:

Module 01: Bilateral Labour Migration Agreements

Module 02: Getting it right on paper

Module 03: Making BLMAs work better in practice

Module 04: Enhancing our negotiation skills

NUMBER OF HOURS: 8