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Saturday, October 12, 2024

ILO, partners draft labour migration roadmap

Stakeholders in Ghana’s migration space have de­veloped a draft roadmap to improve labour migration, and fair recruitment practices in the coun­try and beyond.

The document provides action plans to enhance the legal and in­stitutional frameworks that govern employment of migrants in line with international standards.

It also has specific plans, re­sponsible parties, and timelines for implementation of various action plans suggested to help improve efforts being made by the govern­ment and development partners.

Developed at a workshop organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its partners last Wednesday, the draft would be validated later before it is rolled out.

The two-day event held at Ada in the Greater Accra Region, also created the platform for partici­pants to validate the findings of an assessment of Ghana’s recruitment and labour migration management processes.

The event, dubbed ‘Strengthen­ing Labour Migration Governance through Fair Recruitment in Gha­na,’ was attended by stakeholders in the migration space including rep­resentatives from the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

Also represented were the Min­istry for the Interior, Trade Union Congress, Ghana Statistical Service, Ghana Employers Association (GEA), academia, security services, Attorney General’s Department, Ghana Association of Private Em­ployment Agencies and the ILO Media network on forced labour and fair recruitment.

The workshop was part of the Integrated Programme on Fair Re­cruitment (FAIR III), a global ini­tiative by the ILO to promote fair recruitment practices for migrant workers with support from the Swiss Development Cooperation.

Speaking at the opening, a Project Manager at ILO Ghana, Dr Akua Ofori Asumadu, said the ILO had supported various initiatives in Ghana, including de­veloping bilateral agreements and migration policies.

She said while the country had made some strides in labour mi­gration, a comprehensive roadmap was needed to address recruitment challenges and ensure worker well-being.

She said stakeholders should col­laborate to build a fairer and more equitable legal migration system.

The Director for Policy, Plan­ning, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the MELR, Mrs Gloria Noi, said the initiative was a crucial step towards free and decent migration.

She said recruitment practices should align with internation­al standards while stakeholders needed to cooperate to address ex­ploitation in the migration process.

The Head of the Education and Training Unit of the TUC, Dr Kennedy Achakoma, declared the union’s support for the multi-stake­holder initiative to improve practices.

The Head of Industrial Relations of the GEA, Kingsley Amoah, said issues about the duration of immigrant workers’ stay, skill trans­fer to locals, and compliance with Ghanaian regulations needed to be addressed.

 FROM JONATHAN DONKOR, ADA

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