ILO Conventions 97 & 143

Senate Ratifies Treaties for Migrant Workers

First posted 11:32am (Mla time) Jan 31, 2006

By: Veronica Uy, INQ7.net

THE SENATE has ratified two international agreements that will enhance international legal cooperation for the promotion of the welfare and protection of the rights of migrant workers.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, head of the committee on foreign relations and a former UN legal officer, shepherded the Senate ratification of Convention No. 97 and Convention No. 143 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) late Monday.

She said the ILO Convention No. 97 covered the conditions governing the orderly recruitment of migrant workers. It lays down the principle of equal treatment of migrant workers and national workers as regards working conditions, trade union membership, and collective bargaining, accommodation, social security, and employment taxes.

She noted that the major labor-receiving countries that have ratified Convention No. 97 were Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Sabah, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Spain.

Santiago said ILO Convention No. 143 called for the suppression of illicit and clandestine trafficking of migrant workers, including the prosecution of perpetrators. It aims to promote the adoption of national policies on equality of opportunity and treatment, and to protect the rights of workers who may be working in abusive conditions.

She said the labor-receiving countries that had ratified Convention No. 143 were Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

"As a major country of origin of migrant workers worldwide, it becomes our legal and moral duty to accede to these conventions," Santiago said.

“Our OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] may not always be accepted or integrated into their host societies. The result could be tension that expresses itself in intolerance, racism, and negative stereotyping,” she said.

Santiago said restrictive migration policies in some countries had also denied many OFWs the possibility of acquiring regular migrant status.

“As a result, they often end up being in an irregular or undocumented status in the host country. They become vulnerable to serious violations of their basic rights,” she said.

Santiago said that Senate ratification was required under the Constitution, which specifies that no treaty or international agreement shall be valid and effective unless concurred in by at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.

“The treaties are crucial for the Philippines as a major country of origin of migrant workers,” she said.

It is estimated that close to 10 percent of the Filipino population or eight million are migrant workers abroad, according to labor statistics.

Citing a United Nations study, Santiago said migration was a global phenomenon, with migrant population worldwide in 2005 estimated between 185 million and 192 million people, up from 175 million in 2000.

She also said that the ILO had reported that 86 million, or close to half of all migrants worldwide, were migrant workers.

“Unfortunately, despite their vast numbers and economic importance, migrant workers often lack basic legal protection. They are often considered cheap, docile, and flexible labor,” Santiago lamented, adding that she hopes these treaties will help solve that problem.

Claro M. Recto Room, September 1, 2005

Strong Support for the Senate to Ratify ILO Conventions 97 and 143

CMA strongly supports the ratification of ILO Conventions 97 and 143 by the Philippine government. This is to reiterate CMA's support in a resolution by the national tripartite conference on ILO Conventions on Migration held on October 28, 2003 to ratify them. This is also in line with the recommendations of the 92 nd International Labor Conference of the ILO last year to promote the universal ratification of these two conventions in order to promote and protect the rights of migrant workers.

The Philippine government's ratification of these conventions will strengthen our lobby-advocacy in the international community and in our bilateral lobby for protection and recognition of the rights of our OFWs. The conventions may be used also as guidelines for national legislations and practices.

ILO Convention 97 or the Migration for Employment Convention binds each member state for which this convention is in force to exert measures to apply, without discrimination in respect of nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully within its territory, treatment NO LESS Favorable that that which it applies to its own nationals in respect to remuneration and other work benefits, social security, health and other social services, membership to trade unions and collective bargaining agreements, accommodation, etc. It entered into force in 1952. The Convention was drafted and adopted after World War 2, in the context of European migration, when migration is encouraged from where there is oversupply of labor to where there is scarcity. Migration at that time is viewed as a positive social phenomenon 1 .

A salient feature of the Convention, contained in the annex to the Recommendation is a module for a standard bilateral agreement. 2

The Convention though covers only dependent migrant workers legally admitted and excludes frontier workers, professionals and artists admitted for a short stay as well as maritime workers and seafarers.

To date, it has 42 ratifications including from 13 labor-receiving countries—9 from Europe, 2 in Asia, Israel and New Zealand.

ILO Convention 143 or the Migrant Workers Convention, on the other hand, mandates all member states for which this convention is in force to undertake measures to respect the basic human rights of ALL migrant workers including migrants in irregular situation, and that authors and manpower trafficking can be prosecuted whatever the country for which they exercise their activities; to pursue national policies that provide equality of opportunity and treatment for migrant workers and members of their families who are lawfully within its territory and other such rights and provisions for migrant workers.

It does not cover seafarers and those coming for purposes of training and education. Another area of concern is the issue of protection from deportation when abuses are denounced and protection from abuses by recruitment agencies 3 . It entered into force in 1978. To date, it has only 18 ratifications but include 4 European countries.

While the conventions clearly have gaps, it was the recommendation in the 92 nd International Labour Conference (ILC) 4 to promote the ratification of the Conventions rather than work for the adoption of new conventions. Specifically, other ILO an d UN instruments can fill in the gaps and in fact compliment the conventions. These instruments include the ILO Decent Work agenda which is also based on the fundamental principles and rights at work as well as international labor standards concerning public and private placement agencies, the UN Migrant Workers Convention, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 5 . The Philippines' bilateral labor and social agreements will also compliment these efforts. 6

The 92 nd ILC in June 2004 was a significant forum of the ILO for the migrant workers as the tri-partite forum called upon the ILO to play a central role in the promotion of migrant workers rights in a multilateral forum.

Submitted by:
Ellene A. Sana
Executive Director

1 . “International Conventions on Migrants Rights”, Graziano Battistella. Scalabrini International Migration Institute-Rome. Paper Presented during the World Conference of OFWs 2004, December 2004. Manila.

2 Ibid.

3 Briefing Paper to the 92 nd ILC. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. June 2004. Geneva.

4 92 nd ILC in June 2004 included for the first time a general discussion on migrant workers. The ILC is the annual conference of the ILO and its social partners.

5 CEDAW currently prepares a General Recommendation for the Protection of Women Migrant Workers.

6 From 1968 to 2004, the largest numbers of BLAs forged by the Philippines were with European states (18 agreements); followed by Asia Pacific countries (16); the Americas and Trust Territories (13); and the Middle East and Africa (9). DOLE. Agreements shore up OFW welfare worldwide. October 19, 2004

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