Mexico City, May 15 (EFE).- In recent decades, Mexico and Central American countries, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, have made progress in their mechanisms for equitable hiring of migrants, but they must be strengthened, the International Organization said on Monday. of Labor (ILO).
This Monday in Mexico City, the ILO presented, together with the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) of Mexico, the study “Equitable recruitment in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico: Assessing progress and closing the gaps” .
The document recorded some examples of temporary work initiatives between countries, guides for companies and for migrant workers prepared by governments, inspiring practices of private agencies, programs of agricultural unions and experiences of union action.
It was also pointed out that human mobility between or through the four countries “responds to the search for better employment opportunities, forced displacement for various reasons, and return to transit or destination countries.”
In view of this, the report pointed out that “it is essential to strengthen fair recruitment mechanisms for migrants by their government institutions, employer organizations, and workers’ associations.”
In the presentation, Pedro Américo Furtado de Oliveira, director of the ILO office for Mexico and Cuba, pointed out that the ILO “has verified in recent years the efforts that the countries of the region, both those of origin of migration and those of transit and destination, are carrying out in terms of equitable contracting”.
The ILO recalled that the Fair Recruitment Initiative, launched in 2014, aims to “ensure that national and international recruitment practices are based on international labor standards and social dialogue, and guarantee gender equality.”
He recalled that the advisory committee for this initiative is currently co-chaired by Italy and Mexico, which is why the latter country has increased its efforts to lead the region on issues of labor inspection and its application.
In the document presented this Monday, 21 specific recommendations are also proposed to continue progressing in the implementation of the principles of fair recruitment.
Among them, the regulation of private employment agencies, the recognition of skills of migrant workers, the reinforcement of labor inspection, the access of migrant workers to justice or institutional coordination within countries and between countries. .
Similarly, with regard to employers’ and workers’ organizations, the study raises the need to actively involve them in the construction of policies, bilateral agreements and other instruments, within the framework of social dialogue.
In the last 15 years, the number of international migrants has grown in Latin America and the Caribbean faster than in any other region of the world: they have gone from 7 million to close to 15 million; which represents 5.3% of international migrants.
