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By Henry Mulindwa
A Regional Ministerial Forum on Harmonizing Labor Migration Policies in the East Africa and Horn of Africa has ended with a recommendation to the member countries to revise their laws to facilitate portability of social security benefits to include migrants’ workers.
The forum that took place in Nairobi on January 20-21st, was also attended by Ministers responsible for labor migration from Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Gender, labor and social welfare minister Frank Tumwebaze, told the media at the government media center that the forum also agreed that member countries should strengthen the national statistical institutions and data collection mechanisms as well as cooperation on exchange and analysis to inform policies and labor migration governance.
“The forum also agreed that member states should establish collaboration on diplomatic and consular assistance for migrants’ workers in particular in countries where some states do not have diplomatic representation” he said.
He said that the same meeting recommended that the registration and regulation of private employment agencies and sharing the information on the registered agencies as well as formation of regional associations to enhance self-regulation amongst private employment agencies should be hamormised.
The minister added that the forum members also agreed that member states should promote access to justice by strengthening consular services including posting labor attaches for effective protection of the rights of migrant workers in destination countries.
The meeting sat to among other things discuss a harmonized regional strategy on negotiation of Bilateral Labor Agreements with the European Union and Gulf Cooperation Countries; share information on the trends, priorities, needs and interests of member states in order to foster safe and orderly labor mobility within Africa; enhance the knowledge and skills of Government, Stakeholders on the establishment of effective mechanisms of preparing migrant workers for employment abroad and to discuss strategies of promoting and protecting the rights of African Migrant workers abroad;
