PROTECTING MIGRANT WORKERS UNDER INTERNATIONALLABOUR LAW:CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES AND REFORMING THEGLOBAL PROTECTION FRAMEWORK

Abstract

Today, international labour migration underpins the economies of origin and destination States alike, with the International Labour Organization estimating that international migrants made up 167.7 million, or 4.7 per cent, of the global workforce in 2022, a number that is over thirty million greater than in 2013.3 Nevertheless, the international legal regime intended to protect such workers is still underdeveloped, poorly ratified, and unenforceable against those States that receive the most immigrants. This article will first outline this regime - two conventions adopted by the International Labour Organization, the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the non-binding 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration - and examine why neither has been universally or widely ratified amongst the major destination States. The article will then consider three modern instances of worker vulnerability: the kafala system operated by the GCC States; the lack of access by migrant domestic workers to minimum labour standards; and the increased risk of exploitation and forced labour faced by irregular migrant workers. Finally, the article will assess some suggestions for reforming the international protection regime, namely bilateral labour agreements, sectoral treaty-making, and a very closer look into the amalgamation of the International Labour Organisation’s supervisory function and the Global Compact’s voluntary review process. It then examines three contemporary sites of acute vulnerability: the sponsorship-based kafala systems of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, the exclusion of migrant domestic workers from baseline labour protections, and the disproportionate exposure of irregular migrant workers to exploitation and forced labour. The article concludes by evaluating proposals for reforming the global protection framework, including strengthened bilateral labour agreements, sectoral treatymaking, and closer integration between the International Labour Organization's supervisory machinery and the Global Compact's voluntary review process.