How MIGRA.P supports migrant workers
Funded by the European Union, MIGRA.P is a flagship initiative of the Silk Routes project and stands for Migrant Protection; it offers government authorities and other stakeholders a broad range of expertise and services geared towards ensuring better protection of migrant workers. These include regulation and monitoring of recruitment processes and structures, response and referral mechanisms on migrants’ cases, capacity building for labour attaches and service providers, and enhancing migrants’ skills and qualifications.
The following challenges related to the protection of migrant workers were identified among the Silk Routes Countries during a preceding regional project from 2015 to 2017:
- A substantial share of migrant workers is employed in the informal economy, recruited irregularly or without corresponding work contracts or agreements, and thereby not enjoying any form of legal and social protection.
- Migrants’ rights are rarely upheld due to the competition and ‘race to the bottom’ among labour exporting countries.
- National labour migration policies show substantial gaps in terms of legislation and regulations, outreach and implementation.
- The lack of reliable data and analyses represents an important challenge to evidence-based and cohesive policy-making and programming.
- Insufficient financial and human resources for the implementation of labour migration policies and management of migration structures impact negatively on the capacity and extent of services that governments can provide for migrant protection.
MIGRA.P conducts activities in the Silk Routes Countries as well as in five Central Asian Countries and addresses four inter-related main areas:
- Policy, research, data banking, advocacy and knowledge management that will lead to better migration governance
- Capacity building and community education: training, mentoring and coaching of stakeholders relevant for migrant protection
- Skills development and recognition: activities that help upscale the skills, competencies and qualifications of prospective migrant workers for inclusion in bilateral and multilateral labour arrangements
- Social protection and inclusion: activities to promote and further the social protection and inclusion of migrant workers and their families
Find out more in the MIGRA.P November 2020 fact sheet and contact MIGRA.P here.
A series of modules on pre-departure training, post-arrival orientation and other topics relevant for migrants and migrant workers can be accessed here.
