11th session of the Committee

Eleventh session, Palais Wilson, Geneva, 12-16 October 2009

 Go to the OHCHR website.                                

• The Committee considered report from Sri Lanka. In its concluding observations the Commitee welcomed the establishment of the new Ministry for Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare (2007) and the adoption of a National Labour Migration Policy for Sri Lanka (2008), elaborated with technical assistance from the ILO. The Committee expressed its concern about the fact that Sri Lanka had not taken any measures to ensure that its legislation was in conformity with the Convention, that little information was provided by Sri Lanka with regard to foreign migrant workers in the country or Sri Lankans who had migrated abroad irregularly and that the Convention had not been translated into the national language. It urged Sri Lanka to take necessary measures to make Sri Lankans working abroad able to exercise their right to vote in elections in their country of origin and to negotiate bilateral agreements on labour migration with major labour receiving countries in order to secure protection of the rights of migrant workers. Click here to see the written replies by the Government of Sri Lanka to the CMW list of issues. A complete press release is available here.
• The Committee also held a Day of General Discussion focusing on “Protecting the Rights of Migrant Domestic Workers”. Abdelhamid El Jamri, Chairman of the CMW, said that, in consideration of the inexistence of a definition of migrant domestic workers (even if the International Labour Organization had already done some work on the issue and had found out common points), the goal for the discussion was to start working on a General Comment on the issue. He recognised also that there isn’t currently any international instruments protecting these workers. During the discussion speakers recognised that although migrant domestic workers constitute a large portion of today’s migrant worker population, too little attention had been focused on them. Click here for a complete press release.
  Another interesting idea expressed during the discussion was the one for a specific Ombudsman for migrant domestic workers, that should be further developed.
  As outcome of Day of General Discussion the Committee decided to consider the adoption of a general comment on migrant domestic workers at its 12th session, to be held in April 2010. For more information and contributions click here.
• The Committee also discussed its plans for commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention. Among the ideas presented, the one to include an item on the Convention in the agenda of the Fourth Global Forum on Migration and Development to be held in Mexico next year and the one to approach the Council of Europe for a joint conference with its Committee on Migration as well as migrants’ associations. A representative of the IPMWC spoke about non-governmental organization initiatives in connection with the twentieth anniversary, including the Radio 1812 project and the organization of a celebratory event in New York. See press release.

NGO Reports:

• NGO Shadow Report on Sri Lanka

• Position Paper on Sri Lankan Migrant Workers in the Republic of Kore

• Kav LaOved (Worker's Hotline) on the situation of Sri Lankan migrant workers employed in Israel

• Caritas Lebanon on Sri Lankan Migrant workers in Lebanon

• The Action Network for Migrant Workers & The Women and Media Collective: Response to the written replies by the Government of Sri Lankan to the list of issues