ILO sets to deepen Nigeria’s trade unionists, medias’ understanding on migration
The International Labour Organization (ILO) this week is organising workshop to deepen understanding of Organised labour and media practitioners in Nigeria on issues relating to fair labour migration across the world.
According to the ILO, it is packaged within the framework of the FAIRWAY Programme supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and aimed to contribute to improve labour migration conditions from Africa to the Arab States.
The programme schedule to hold between August and September is a follow up to a similar one held in the country by the global body last year.
The ILO noted that the project is an inter-regional initiative that aims to enhance the capacities of stakeholders to protect the rights of all migrant workers especially women and other vulnerable groups along the labour migration cycle with specific focus of the labour migration corridor between Africa and the Arab States. Additionally, the project seeks to strengthen expertise to enable migrant workers contribute to sustainable development in both countries of origin and destination.
ILO launched a media Toolkit on Forced Labour and Fair Recruitment in 2020 to contribute to quality reportage by journalists in the area of forced labour and recruitment.
“Through the FAIRWAY Programme, the media toolkit for reporting on Forced Labour and Fair Recruitment has been adapted to the Nigeria context, in addition to supporting in the development of an Information Guide for Returning Migrants and Migrant Workers, as well as policy briefs on Promoting Better Media Reporting relating to Returning Nigerian Migrant Workers and on CSOs contributions in Labour Migration Governance,” the ILO said.
The global body said these resources provide reference and guidance for stakeholders across varying levels of engagement in ensuring adequate country specific information is available during dialogue and advocacy.
They further contribute towards enriching the national labour migration governance landscape, complementing a recently revised National Policy on Labour Migration (NPLM) 2020.
Over the course of implementing the FAIRWAY Programme, ILO explained that the Nigeria country component has facilitated training activities with media practitioners, journalists, civil society organizations, workers’ representatives, and labour writers’ association.
It stated, “As part of the Programme’s Monitoring Plan, post-training surveys with a random selection of participants is expected to be conducted approximately six (6) months after the completion of trainings.
“Previous surveys to evaluate the impact of the programmes’ media and civil society components of work further recommended additional trainings and improvements in enhancing the knowledge base of the community of practice which this engagement now builds upon.”
ILO said it’s engagement under this component seeks to work more collaboratively with the media, CSOs, Trade Unions and other stakeholders in contributing to addressing discriminatory attitudes towards migrant workers in addition to facilitating improved access to information and support services throughout the migration cycle.
Towards this end, the Programme also supported the Nigeria Labour Congress to develop a Trade Union Information Guide for Returning Nigeria Migrant Workers.
The context in which this assignment is conceptualized is closely linked to the vantage role workers representatives, particular the Nigeria Labour Congress is playing through operationalizing the Migrant Recruitment Advisor in Nigeria, as well as reach and coverage of the media and CSOs in the area of sensitization of large populations including migrant workers especially female migrant workers thus contributing to broader project aspirations with reference to gender-responsive safeguards along the migration cycle.
Rationale
Recalling the normative contents of the media toolkit, the post COVID-19 and other forced migration contexts arising from climate and/or conflict induced population movements where the need for maintaining fair recruitment standards, including human and labour rights of migrants remains challenging in addition to the likelihood of more incidences of forced labour, ILO said this capacity enhancement training is designed to support FAIRWAY’s Community of Practice’s engagement particularly the media, civil society (CSOs) and trade unions in contributing to effective labour migration practices in Nigeria.
It stated, “Within the framework of the Programme, ILO is facilitating refresher training and learning sessions on newly developed resources, knowledge products and tools on labour migration such as the Migrants Recruitment Advisor (MRA) and NLC returning migrants and migrant workers Information Guide.
The overall objective, ILO added is to strengthen the capacity of NLC affiliates, selected civil society and media practitioners to better understand, engage and report accurately in areas related to labour migration and forced labour using ILO’s media toolkit, and other knowledge products and resources, such as MRA, and NLC returning migrants and migrant workers Information Guide.
The specific objectives among others include, improved the knowledge base, and collaboration between the workers representatives, civil society, media, and relevant government institutions on collaboration and access to labour migration information.
It is also to facilitate learning and engagement between the media, CSOs labour movements and migrant communities to better understand and situate discriminatory practices while reporting migration stories.
It will equally update tools and resources for collecting and collating related information towards improving the Programme’s Community of Practice.
“The engagement targets the FAIRWAY Media Community of Practice, Civil Society Organizations, Trade Unions, Academia, and Relevant Government agencies,” ILO said.
