Role of ICTs in Safeguarding Migrant Workers

Worldwide, there are an estimated 244 million international migrants (UN DESA, 2016), with 175 million of these originating from developing regions. People migrate for a number of reasons, with the most cited being access to jobs. The International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) decent work agenda aims to ensure dignity, equality, fair income and safe working conditions, with specific mention of these conditions for migrant workers and women migrant workers. This agenda has informed a number of United Nations initiatives, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and numerous conventions aimed to protect the labour rights of migrant workers (2015). Despite this, the number of labour abuses continues to rise across the world. The ILO estimates that there are almost 21 million people who are victims of forced labour (ILO, 2012a), particularly in unskilled and semi-skilled positions. This paper discusses the role that data and technology can play in safeguarding migrant workers from abuse and exploitation during recruitment and employment, in particular in unskilled and semi-skilled positions. It discusses the use of data and technology by migrant workers to improve their situation, and the situation of others. The paper describes three cases of using technology to safeguard migrant workers: during recruitment; for forensic evidence in the case of exploitation and abuse during employment; and for the identification of workers in situations of forced labour. In doing so it highlights the importance of developing appropriate methodologies and metrics for collecting and validating data that represents the scope of the societal challenge of exploitation and abuse of migrant workers.