Discrimination against Migrant Workers 2007-2010: Trends August Gächter and Challenges Final report 28.09.2010 This report was prepared as a working paper in conjunction with the ILO’s 2011 Global Report un- der the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Thanks to Gina Rhee, Milena Kremmel, and Andrea Davila for research assistance. 2 Contents Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 5 Scope of the report.................................................................................................................. 5 Selection and presentation of material..................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1: The recession and its impact on migrant workers .......................................................... 7 Not all migrant employing economies are equally affected by the crisis................................... 7 Crisis impacts on the number of migrant workers: data issues .............................................. 10 Are migrant workers leaving crisis-hit labour markets?.......................................................... 12 Voluntary return programmes................................................................................................ 19 Population employment rates ................................................................................................ 23 Labour force unemployment rates......................................................................................... 27 Youth unemployment ............................................................................................................ 37 Practices, lessons, and gaps................................................................................................. 38 Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 38 Chapter 2: Discrimination against migrant workers ....................................................................... 40 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 40 Forms of discrimination ......................................................................................................... 40 The challenges of this chapter............................................................................................... 40 The likeliness of complaints ...................................................................................................... 41 Few official complaints .......................................................................................................... 41 Access to information on protections against discrimination.................................................. 44 Right to an effective remedy.................................................................................................. 46 Implementation gaps............................................................................................................. 47 Employment opportunities......................................................................................................... 48 Employment, and specifically hiring....................................................................................... 48 Labour force nationalisation policies...................................................................................... 51 Employment termination........................................................................................................ 52 Illegalisation .......................................................................................................................... 52 Forced return......................................................................................................................... 53 Recruitment agencies............................................................................................................ 54 Sending policies.................................................................................................................... 56 Human trafficking .................................................................................................................. 56 Discriminatory job advertising................................................................................................ 58 Dress codes .......................................................................................................................... 59 Language prohibitions........................................................................................................... 60 Access to vocational training ................................................................................................. 60 Working conditions.................................................................................................................... 60 Working conditions in general ............................................................................................... 60 Wages................................................................................................................................... 63 Excessive hours.................................................................................................................... 65 Religious holidays ................................................................................................................. 66 Overeducation and deskilling ................................................................................................ 67 Freedom of association ......................................................................................................... 70 Legal provisions tying workers to employers ......................................................................... 70 Curtailed freedom of movement ............................................................................................ 72 Violence, abuse, intimidation................................................................................................. 73 Racism, stigmatisation, stereotyping ..................................................................................... 76 Social conditions ....................................................................................................................... 76 Support in unemployment...................................................................................................... 76 3 Health and illness.................................................................................................................. 77 Insufficient protection of family and social life........................................................................ 77 Cultural expression ............................................................................................................... 77 Dysfunctional legislation and organisation............................................................................. 78 Remittances .......................................................................................................................... 79 Franchise .............................................................................................................................. 79 Services to workers abroad................................................................................................... 80 Children left behind ............................................................................................................... 80 Voluntary return and reintegration ......................................................................................... 81 Practices, lessons, and gaps................................................................................................. 81 Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 82 Chapter 3: Legal developments .................................................................................................... 84 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 84 Conditions of employment..................................................................................................... 84 Workers tied to employers..................................................................................................... 86 Recruitment........................................................................................................................... 87 Illegalisation .......................................................................................................................... 88 Forced return......................................................................................................................... 88 Social conditions ................................................................................................................... 88 Cooperation between countries of origin and of employment ................................................ 89 Debate on a numbers vs. rights trade-off............................................................................... 90 Practices, lessons, and gaps................................................................................................. 91 Recommendations ...............................................................................................................