World – New platform aims to help protect migrant workers from dishonest recruitment agencies

A new online platform has been launched to help protect migrant workers from abusive employment practices by providing them with peer-to-peer reviews about recruitment agencies in their country of origin and destination, according to the International Labour Organisation.

The Recruitment Advisor platform developed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), with support from the ILO Fair Recruitment initiative , lists thousands of agencies in Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia.

“While millions of workers migrate in search of a better life for themselves and their families, far too many are tricked by false promises made by unscrupulous recruitment agencies, including fake jobs, lower wages and unsafe working conditions. Some end up trapped in forced labour and other forms of modern slavery,” the ILO stated.

The new platform allows workers to comment on their experiences, rate the recruitment agencies and learn about their rights.
Governments provided the list of licensed agencies, and a network of trade unions and civil society organizations in all target countries ensures the sustainability of the platform by reaching out to workers.

Ultimately the system will promote recruiters who follow a fair recruitment process, based on the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment, and will provide useful feedback to governments regarding the practices of licensed recruitment agencies, which could be used to complement more traditional monitoring systems.

“Unscrupulous recruitment agencies take advantage of the lack of law enforcement by governments or because workers are simply not aware of their rights,” ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow, said. “It’s time to put power back into workers’ hands to rate the recruitment agencies and show whether their promises of jobs and wages are delivered.”
The ILO added that many workers are not aware that they should not pay recruitment fees to get a job. This principle has been listed as one of the ILO principles to ensure fair recruitment.

Source:: http://www2.staffingindustry.com/row/Editorial/Daily-News/World-New-platform-aims-to-help-protect-migrant-workers-from-dishonest-recruitment-agencies-45678