The African Trade Union Migration Network (ATUMNET), Africa’s organised labour platform for coordinating workers’ participation in migration governance under the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)-Africa,  with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO), hosted a dynamic three-day capacity-building workshop in Nairobi (Kenya) focused on fair recruitment and the protection of migrant workers’ rights. The event brought together 43 participants, including representatives from national and regional trade unions, migrant worker associations, private employment agencies, and the media.

Unethical recruitment remains a persistent challenge for African migrant workers, often leading to exploitation through contract substitution, excessive recruitment fees, and deceptive practices. During the workshop, participants developed draft advocacy messages, an action plan, and individual commitments to promoting fair recruitment.

The sessions focused on equipping the participants with knowledge on the normative guidance on Fair Recruitment such as  the ILO’s General Principles and Operational Guidelines (GP&OG) and African Union's Strategy on Fair and Ethical Recruitment Strategy as well as some of the examples on trade union action to promote fair recruitment (ex:  the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA), and Tunisia’s Migrant Resource Centre (MRC)). These examples helped underscore how trade unions can engage more strategically at national and regional levels.

Based on the technical sessions, the participants worked towards drafting unified advocacy messages that will inform ATUMNET's advocacy on advancing fair recruitment for African migrant workers as well as serve as their common position in upcoming national, regional and inter-regional dialogues, including the next round of the Doha Dialogue between Africa and the Arab States.

By deepening their knowledge and strengthening coordination, trade union leaders reaffirmed their role in shaping just migration policies and protecting African workers on the move.

This activity was carried out with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)-funded Labour, Employment and Mobility actions of the AU-ILO-IOM Programme on Labour Migration Governance for development and integration in Africa (JLMP-Lead), Swiss Development Cooperation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung- funded Integrated Programme on Fair Recruitment (FAIR III) and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-Funded Better Regional Migration Management Programme (BRMM).