ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative Strategy 2021-2025. Taking stock, moving forward

The Fair Recruitment Initiative (FRI) was launched in 2014 as part of the ILO Fair Migration Agenda. Since its launch, the FRI has been critical to ILO’s work in the area of national and international recruitment of workers and has added renewed impetus and visibility to this important topic. The 2021-2025 Strategy will continue to be grounded in relevant international labour standards (ILS), global guidance, and social dialogue between governance institutions and actors of the labour market.

Trade union action to promote fair recruitment for migrant workers

This brief highlights trade union action to promote and protect fair recruitment for migrant workers through actions including policy advocacy, service provision and outreach.

Establishing Fair Recruitment Processes: An ILO online training toolkit

In cooperation with ITC-ILO, the REFRAME project has produced a comprehensive modular training manual on fair recruitment to support its constituents to design, support and implement fair recruitment practices.

This training course is available as an interactive version (online) and as individual downloadable modules (PDF). It contains five modules covering different aspects of fair recruitment. This training manual is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Ensuring fair recruitment for decent work - A mini guide for trade unions

This mini guide focuses on how can trade unions advance fair recruitment and what is fair recruitment. 

The mini guide is available in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish.

Practical guide on developing labour migration policies

This guide is intended to provide practical and succinct guidance on the process to be undertaken by ILO constituents governments, workers’ organizations, employers’ organizations, in consultation with civil society organizations and other relevant partners, during the course of developing or revising a national labour migration strategy, policy and/or action plan.

Frequently asked questions on fair recruitment

How digital technology can protect migrant workers from forced labour and exploitation

Digital technology can be a game changer in migrant worker protection. But where to start? What digital products are already out there? How to make sure that technology delivers real benefits? A new research under the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative provides answers.

This infographic report features tips and advice on how to design, develop and promote digital products for migrant workers. It is based on the ILO research “Use of digital technology in the recruitment of migrant workers” (2021).

Global estimates of modern slavery: Forced labour and forced marriage

The 2021 Global Estimates reveal that, at any time during the reporting period, 49.6 million people were victims of modern slavery, either forced to work against their will or to live in a marriage without their consent.

Among the victims of modern slavery, forced labour accounts for 27.6 million and forced marriage for 22 million. According to the same report, a significant portion of forced labour cases can be attributed to abuses that occur during the recruitment phase. This report therefore calls for the promotion of fair and ethical recruitment to protect workers from abusive and fraudulent practices during the recruitment and placement process, including the charging of exorbitant recruitment fees and related expenses by unscrupulous recruitment agencies and labour brokers.

Temporary labour migration: Two studies on workers’ perspectives and actions

This report gathering two studies on workers organizations’ experience with temporary labour migration is part of a larger ILO project to gather knowledge on temporary labour migration.

The views on temporary labour migration vary greatly, including among ILO constituents. In light of the various concerns that the complex dynamics of temporary labour migration raise, it is crucial for the Office to capture constituents’ perspectives to enrich the debate. This document is an input from the Workers’ side to this process.

Illustrated guidelines for gender-responsive employment intensive investment programmes

This guide is the outcome of a study carried out on gender and public works, and has been developed using evidence from 43 EIIPs implemented in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean between 1995 and 2013.

Good practices include experiences in fair recruitment in Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Indonesia, Haiti, Guatemala and Nicaragua.