April 20, 2022
Domestic Work, Ethical Recruitment
The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery Announces New Program to Support Migrant Workers in Malaysia, Indonesia
Read this postOctober 27, 2020
Ethical recruitment channels remain out of reach for most Overseas Filipinx Workers (OFWs), despite sincere efforts by the Philippine Government to protect them. This puts them at risk of trafficking and if exploitation does occur, unethical channels do not provide any access to grievance mechanisms for remedy.
While the Philippines is in many ways a leader among labor-sending countries with regards to ethical recruitment practices, traffickers exploit remaining gaps. For example, while OFWs migrating for domestic work cannot legally be charged fees (a key source of debt bondage among migrant workers), vulnerable workers in other low-skill sectors, can be charged. Furthermore, enforcement of regulations is not fully effective. A recently released study by Seefar found that on average, Filipina domestic workers paid $700 in recruitment fees despite it being illegal for agencies to charge such fees.
The recruitment industry also has much room for improvement in implementing practices that can reduce the risk of trafficking. There are 1,300 licensed recruitment agencies in the Philippines and countless more informal operators. Almost none of these agencies are in line with international ethical recruitment standards.
With funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, GFEMS is addressing these challenges by assembling a consortium of partners led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), that also includes the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, Diginex, and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the “Alliance”). The consortium will improve recruitment industry practices by supporting and incentivizing the effective, sustainable adoption of ethical recruitment in the Philippines, with particular emphasis on domestic workers and hospitality workers.
Multiple complementary workstreams will bring together the Government of the Philippines, Philippine recruitment agencies (PRAs), the hospitality industry, and civil society organizations (CSOs) dedicated to migrant worker protection. Together, the consortium will provide these stakeholders with:
Ultimately, the project aims to sustainably reduce the prevalence of TIP among OFWs by empowering the Government of the Philippines and civil society to create an environment for more employers and PRAs to practice ethical recruitment and provide safer employment alternatives overseas. The planned tools are intended to help the recruitment industry reduce demand for exploitative labor by providing data-driven approaches to drive behavior change and creating greater access to ethical recruitment capacity building programs.
Finally, as part of the Fund’s commitment to expanding the field’s evidence base, we will be researching learning questions related to effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and sustainability, including:
GFEMS looks forward to sharing more information about this project as it is implemented, and is grateful for the support of the U.S. Department of State and the partnership of the consortium.
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This article and the IOM project were funded by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions, findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of State.