Author ORCID Identifier

Fay Faraday: 0000-0003-3519-9315

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2021

Publisher

World Bank Group

City

Washington, DC

Abstract

The experience of transnational migrants working for low pay under exploitative conditions has been well-documented for many years. Yet, a sizeable catalogue of binding international instruments establishes a rights-based framework through which states commit to deliver substantive labour protections to migrant workers. By focusing on the operation of labour inspectorates in five countries – Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Qatar and South Africa – this paper undertakes a comparative analysis to explore what accounts for the persistent gap between the vision of the rights-based framework and the reality of rights violations that migrant workers experience. These countries were selected for comparison because they are located in five different geographic regions; are countries in which labour is performed by large numbers of migrant workers; and are countries to which migrant workers arrive through a mix of south-to-south and south-to-north migration flows. The research reveals that, across very different countries, economies, legal systems and migration flows, strikingly common patterns of structural inequality, exploitative behaviour and weakness in institutional design deny migrant workers’ secure protection of their labour rights and facilitate systemic discrimination, abuse and widespread rights violations. By focusing on the role and design of state-based labour inspection, this report seeks to account for why this is so.

Comments

"KNOMAD Paper No 39."

"The KNOMAD Paper Series disseminates work in progress under the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD). A global hub of knowledge and policy expertise on migration and development, KNOMAD aims to create and synthesize multidisciplinary knowledge and evidence; generate a menu of policy options for migration policy makers; and provide technical assistance and capacity building for pilot projects, evaluation of policies, and data collection.

KNOMAD is supported by a multi-donor trust fund established by the World Bank. The European Commission, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) are the contributors to the trust fund.

The views expressed in this paper do not represent the views of the World Bank or the sponsoring organizations. Please cite the work as follows: Fay Faraday. 2021. “The Empowerment of Migrant Workers in a Precarious Situation: An overview.” KNOMAD Paper No 39, World Bank, Washington, DC.

All queries should be addressed to KNOMAD@worldbank.org. KNOMAD papers and a host of other resources on migration are available at www.KNOMAD.org."

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