Definition & Legal Instruments

According to ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97), the term “migrant for employment” (or, more commonly, “migrant worker”) means a person who “migrates from one country to another with a view to being employed otherwise than on his or her own account”. The UN Convention for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families includes a similar definition. Migrant labour is the work undertaken by someone considered a migrant.

Two main ILO conventions comprehensively define the rights of migrant workers and advocate the principles of equal treatment, equality of opportunity and non-discrimination:

• ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), No. 97 (1949): The convention lays out how ratifying States must treat migrant workers and how to provide equal opportunities through law. It includes provisions to facilitate international migration for employment by establishing and maintaining a free assistance and information service and taking measures against misleading propaganda relating to emigration and immigration; provisions on appropriate medical services for migrant workers and the transfer of earnings and savings; and the requirement that States have to apply treatment no less favourable than that which applies to their own nationals in respect of a number of matters, including conditions of employment, freedom of association and social security.
• ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, No. 143 (1975): The convention focuses on how to prevent abusive conditions in migration and ensure the protection of the rights of migrant workers. It sets out measures to combat clandestine and illegal migration, while at the same time establishing the general obligation to respect the fundamental rights of all migrant workers. It also includes provisions on migrant workers’ cultural rights and individual and collective freedoms and the right of family reunification of the families of migrant workers legally residing in their territory.

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW) builds upon and expands the ILO Conventions. It applies to all aspects of the life of migrant workers and members of their families, including the situation of women and children. The ICRMW articulates the principle of equal treatment between migrant workers and nationals with respect to remuneration and other working conditions, calling for equality of treatment with regard to migrant workers’ and members of their families’ access to housing, social and health services, and educational institutions among others.

Over 50 countries have ratified ILO Convention No. 97, and nearly 30 have ratified ILO Convention No. 143. The ICRMW has also been ratified only by a small number of countries. The implementation and enforcement of national legislation — and therefore the frequency of violations of migrant workers’ rights — may vary significantly from country to country even if all the core conventions related to migrant workers have been ratified.

Regional migrant worker instruments such as the European Social Charter and the European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers provide protection of social rights for migrant workers. The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty that guarantees fundamental social and economic rights, with a specific emphasis on the protection of vulnerable persons, including migrants, whose social and economic rights must be guaranteed without discrimination. The European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers clarifies principal aspects of the legal situation of migrant workers, in particular recruitment, work permits, working conditions and dismissal among others.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) set the global standard regarding the responsibility of business to respect human rights in their operations and across their value chains. The Guiding Principles call upon States to consider a smart mix of measures — national and international, mandatory and voluntary — to foster business respect for human rights.