TVET

Fair and ethical recruitment of migrant workers: Vietnamese and Georgian Partners meet in Berlin

By Isa-Maren Beck, Bukurije Kameri / GIZ

Partners from Viet Nam and Georgia recently participated in a one-week delegation visit to Berlin organised by the global programme “Shaping development-oriented migration” (MEG). Despite being from different regions, the two countries share common challenges in labour migration and agreed on further cooperation in this field. 

The delegation visit dubbed “spring school” consisted of a training and exchange between the key actors present with the goal of leveraging the participants’ existing knowledge and encouraging collaboration between the two countries. The visit also provided an excellent and crucial foundation for establishing partnerships between governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the same thematic area. The representation of feminist civil society groups added great value to the discussions.

Training on Fair and Ethical Recruitment

The global number of migrant workers is estimated to be 169 million. Low-skilled workers are particularly at risk throughout the recruitment process, for example, through the retention of identity documents, physical or sexual violence or lack of access to justice. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that recruitment is conducted in a fair and ethical manner. 

The training held during the visit therefore focused on fair and ethical recruitment of migrant workers from a global perspective, including norms, principles, and multi-stakeholder viewpoints. Additionally, the training strengthened cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Viet Nam by providing insights into their country perspectives.

Exchange with stakeholders

The spring school provided opportunities for practical insights and exchange with German non-governmental actors such as Arbeit & Leben Berlin-Brandenburg, as well as governmental actors such as the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

The importance of decent work, and fair and ethical recruitment is further underlined by its inclusion in the Agenda 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 10.7.1.) and as Objective 6 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). The spring school was a great start for future exchange between the two countries on various aspects of this topic. 

The MEG is implemented in 15 countries, including Viet Nam and Georgia. It supports key actors in partner countries to make gender-responsive contributions towards implementing the GCM.