Story by ZBC Reporter
The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Honourable July Moyo has called on governments to protect migrant workers in line with international labour practices.
He was addressing the recently-held 14th Global Forum on Migration and Development in Geneva, Switzerland.
Minister Moyo led the Zimbabwean delegation that included the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Honourable Chido Sanyatwe and technocrats in migration issues.
Honourable Moyo co-chaired a discussion with United Arab Emirates’ Assistant Undersecretary, Communications and International Relations in the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, H.E. Shayma Al Awadhi, Adecco Group Head of Policy Advocacy on labour migration representing Business Mechanism, Mr. Menno Bart.
He underscored the need for an inclusive approach in solving labour migration issues.
“The issue of protection of migrant workers is coming out very strongly and requires both the governments, social partners, employers and trade unions in the receiving countries to recognise that they are aiding the development of those countries, and therefore they need the protection that is generally given using ILO standards in the receiving countries. For those countries that are sending countries, obviously we need to discuss how our migrants are going to fare in the destination countries,” he said.
As Zimbabwe assumes the chairmanship of SADC this year, the issue of labour migration will be at the fore of its agenda.
“Zimbabwe is going to be the Chair of SADC this year and I think that we should give this issue of migration the weight that it deserves, because most migrants in the region come from neighbouring countries, although we send a few to far away countries,” said Honourable Moyo.
The Global Forum on Migration and Development was the brain child of the late United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan after discussions at the first High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development (HLD) in 2006.
At this meeting, over 140 Member States discussed the complexity of the nexus between migration and development, and the continued increase in migration flows and yet there was inadequate information and data around the migration discourse.
Over the years the Forum has grown and has become more structured in a manner that encourages social dialogue and inclusivity by setting up 5 distinct groups that will be part of the conversation on migration which are Governments, Civil Society Mechanism, Business Mechanism, Mayors Mechanism and Youth.
