Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

Thirty-sixth session

Summary record of the 519th meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Thursday, 30 March 2023, at 10 a.m.

Chair:Mr. Corzo Sosa

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 73 of the Convention (continued)

Third periodic report of the Philippines

The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 73 of the Convention (continued)

Third periodic report of the Philippines (CMW/C/PHL/3; CMW/C/PHL/QPR/3)

At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of the Philippines joined the meeting.

Ms. Ople (Philippines) said that the President of her country had recently reiterated the importance of overseas migrant workers to the Philippines. Urgent aid was provided to migrant workers abroad when needed; for example, in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Türkiye, Philippine government departments had helped in search and rescue missions, provided shelters for Philippine migrant workers and organized repatriation flights. Similarly, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, billions of pesos had been made available from the national budget for the repatriation, health care and reintegration of the more than 1 million migrant workers who had returned to the Philippines.

The Philippines had called for more countries to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the guiding principles of the Convention had been embedded in the law creating the Department of Migrant Workers. A national database had also been established to facilitate the implementation of recommendations made by international human rights bodies, including the Committee. The Philippines had established a State policy for adherence to the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. At the same time, national action plans on fair and ethical recruitment and on gender-responsive return and reintegration of overseas Philippine workers had been developed in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration. Furthermore, the Philippines had played an active role in preparing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Agreements on the protection of domestic workers had also been signed with Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Department of Migrant Workers had been established in 2021 and was responsible for implementing laws, policies, multilateral and bilateral agreements and international instruments related to the rights of such workers and their families. The Department aimed to protect migrant workers’ rights, to highlight the excellence of Philippine migrant workers and to promote a human rights-based approach to labour migration and migration governance. Following its recruitment process, the Department of Migrant Workers would have a workforce of over 1,000 employees.

The Department managed a dedicated hospital for migrant workers, which had provided services to over 11,000 patients; the Department of Health had also recently announced that all regional hospitals were to have a dedicated ward for overseas Philippine workers and their families. Some $22 million of the budget of the Department of Migrant Workers had been allocated to a fund for ensuring that migrant workers had access to a lawyer if needed, and the Department worked with civil society, trade unions, foreign employers, recruitment agencies and workers’ advocates to ensure the inclusive and transparent management of issues related to labour migration. The Department provided reintegration services to returning migrant workers and the National Reintegration Centre worked with businesses and civil society to ensure that job opportunities and entrepreneurship programmes were available to workers returning permanently to the Philippines.

The Department had its own information management system which, in conjunction with the migration survey and other studies carried out by the Philippine Statistics Authority, helped to inform government policy. Since 2022, the Department had held stakeholder consultations on new legislation governing the hiring and deployment of Philippine migrant workers through private recruitment agencies. The proposed legislation included the mandatory hiring of welfare desk officers by agencies in the Philippines and abroad to monitor the situation of migrant workers, especially women in vulnerable occupations such as domestic work. The Department had also proposed that, under the legislation, acts of corruption should be grounds for the immediate revocation of the recruitment agency licences.

Migration governance was also addressed by other government departments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Labour and Employment had made $200 million available in the form of cash assistance for migrant workers abroad. Those workers also had access to legal assistance funds through the Department of Foreign Affairs and to an urgent appeals hotline and online platform operated by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. Cases of abuse against migrant workers abroad could also be reported by family members in the Philippines through the One Repatriation Command Centre. Several Supreme Court decisions had been made in favour of migrant workers abroad and the Court now allowed for video conferencing to ensure access to justice for litigants working overseas.

The Department of Health assisted migrant workers abroad through medical repatriation and referrals to government hospitals. It also managed the Philippine Migrant Health Network, which was made up of various government agencies, civil society groups and medical associations. The Department of Social Welfare and Development provided access to social workers for families and children who had remained in the Philippines when their relative or parent had left to work abroad, and it had issued guidelines to facilitate the travel of those children so that they could reunite with their parents. The Department also maintained an electronic case management system which incorporated a national gender-based violence database and reporting system. Issues of modern slavery were addressed by the Department of Justice, and the Philippines had maintained its Tier 1 ranking in the Trafficking in Persons Report produced by the United States of America in each of the past seven years.

A number of challenges nevertheless remained in terms of migration, including the impact of climate change on labour migration, the illegal recruitment and human trafficking of migrant workers and a lack of awareness of the rights of migrant domestic workers, particularly among receiving countries and employers. The Philippines welcomed the Committee’s expertise on those challenges as the country moved towards a human rights-based approach to labour migration and migration governance.

Mr. Ceriani Cernadas (Country Rapporteur) said that he wished to know the causes of the high level of emigration from the Philippines, including specific information on the impact of the public policies in place to address those causes and to ensure that citizens had access to decent work and could ensure the well-being of their families within the State party. Information with a gender-based perspective would be particularly welcome, given that a high proportion of the migrant workers leaving the Philippines were women.

He would appreciate information and statistical data on regulations governing foreign migrant workers living in the Philippines, including policies for ensuring their access to justice, the institutions responsible for their welfare, the means whereby they could regularize their situation and whether there had been any cases of exploitation and trafficking within that group. He also wondered what measures had been taken to protect migrant workers abroad who were in irregular situations or facing detention or deportation, given their vulnerability to abuse. Furthermore, it would be useful to know what measures had been taken to accelerate processes for accessing justice for overseas migrant workers who had suffered abuse during their time abroad, been victims of trafficking or migrated outside of direct employment agreements with other countries.

He wondered exactly how different policies and programmes addressed the situation of children whose parents had emigrated from the Philippines, especially vis-á-vis their mental health,. He wished to know whether the programme facilitating travel for children covered not just temporary visits but also permanent family reunions and whether bilateral agreements with other countries provided for the migration of workers’ families. He wondered what plans the State had to reduce the rates charged by recruitment agencies and whether it intended to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181). Lastly, he wished to know the status of proposed legal amendments to recognize the right of migrant workers to form and join trade unions.

Ms. Dzumhur (Country Rapporteur) said that she would appreciate further information on migrant workers living in the Philippines, including their migration status and how that status was regulated. She would also welcome information on the trends observed in the emigration of Philippine citizens since the previous State party report, as well as statistical data on the number of Philippine migrant workers abroad and the number of migrant workers from other countries living in the Philippines.

While she welcomed the signing of migration agreements with various countries, it would be useful to know what entity monitored such agreements and whether it reported its findings. She wished to learn about steps taken to prevent Filipinos from embarking on irregular migration, to enhance reintegration programmes, for instance through job creation, and to assess the implementation and effectiveness of migrant support programmes. Had section 29 (a) (2) of the Immigration Act, which banned entry to the country to persons with infectious diseases, been repealed?

She would welcome further information on the Migrants’ Rights Observatory; on the national human rights institution’s independence, membership and status under the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles); on the establishment of the national mechanism for the prevention of torture; and on the Shared Government Information System on Migration. Noting the fairly recent establishment of the Department of Migrant Workers, she wished to know about its structure and resources, its effectiveness and the measures taken to raise awareness about the Department among migrant workers.

Lastly, it would be helpful to know whether civil society had been involved in the preparation of the report and, if so, how the consultations had been organized and what organizations had been invited to take part.

The Chair (Country Rapporteur) said that the Committee welcomed the State party’s efforts to support the dissemination and ratification of the Convention. He wished to hear more about the involvement of civil society in monitoring and assessing the implementation of the Committee’s concluding observations. While some steps had been taken to bring the Commission on Human Rights into line with the Paris Principles, other matters appeared to remain pending, such as the criteria for the selection of the president and members of the Commission. Therefore, he wished to know on what basis those posts were currently being filled and why that process needed to be changed. The delegation was invited to comment on the State party’s efforts to act on the Committee’s recommendations concerning the oversight of private employment agencies. He would welcome more detailed information on the type of elections that Filipinos living abroad were allowed to vote in and on their eligibility to stand for election. Lastly, he wondered to what extent Filipinos living abroad were aware of the services available to them through the Department of Migrant Workers, including the Immediate Caring Assistance for Overseas Filipino Workers in Need Fund.

Ms. Diallo, noting the strong representation of women in the delegation, said that she would welcome information on the monitoring of recruitment of Philippine seasonal workers under agreements reached by local governments with the Republic of Korea. In particular, she wished to hear about the measures taken to ensure that their rights were respected, about any complaint mechanism available to Philippine workers, in particular those in Japan, some of whom had reportedly experienced abuse, and about the extent of civil society involvement in the implementation of migration-related policies and measures.

Mr. Oumaria said that the Committee wished to know whether the State party had adopted a policy to provide job opportunities for women so that they were not obliged to seek employment abroad. It would also be helpful to know whether the Government had established mechanisms to monitor online recruitment by private employment agencies and impose penalties on agencies that engaged in questionable practices, as well as mechanisms to monitor compliance with employment contracts in countries of destination. He wondered whether the social, psychological and educational impact of mothers leaving their families to work abroad had been studied, what return and resettlement policies had been adopted, whether women migrants could support themselves after returning to the Philippines and what retraining opportunities were available to them. Was there an association of Filipinos living abroad?

Ms. Gahar said that she commended the State party on its gender-balanced and youthful delegation. She wished to know what methods were used to disseminate the Convention, whether the State party had had the text translated into the official language and into the languages most spoken by the migrant workers in its territory, how civil society was involved in those efforts and what training in migrant rights was available. She invited the delegation to describe the measures taken to facilitate the return of Philippine migrant workers, especially women in a vulnerable situation, and to prevent their re-emigration. What steps had been taken to mitigate the impact of women’s departure abroad on their children, to address the distribution of traditional gender roles within the family and to meet the needs of Philippine migrants who had had to return abruptly at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. García Sáenz, noting the success of the State party’s agreement with Canada on the recruitment of Philippine nurses, asked whether Philippine missions had ever had cause to intervene on behalf of those nurses, what protection the nurses could expect and how long they typically remained in Canada.

Mr. Charef, commending the State party for the gender balance in its delegation and for the political will to support international migration that it had shown since the enactment of its Labour Code in 1974, said that he would be grateful to receive statistics on the number of Philippine migrant workers who were women, disaggregated by host country, and on the number of such workers who had returned. He would be interested to know whether there had been any studies into the impact on the children of Philippine migrant workers of growing up with their mothers seldom or never present. What measures were in place to protect women domestic workers from all forms of harassment? He wished to know whether training or other programmes had been developed to address the disconnect between domestic labour supply and demand, given that some Philippine domestic workers abroad had a university education, and whether there were any local development strategies to promote the economic reintegration of returning migrant workers.

The meeting was suspended at 11.20 a.m. and resumed at 11.50 a.m.

Ms. Ople (Philippines) said that, although the Philippines had a long history of migration governance, it aspired to create more jobs domestically so as to reduce unemployment and underemployment. To that end, several laws had been enacted to open up the economy, attract foreign direct investment, expand the tourism sector and retrain the workforce.

Pursuant to the Constitution, education was afforded the highest priority in the national budget. Face-to-face classes had resumed after having been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts were being made to harness technology to enhance teaching and learning. The Government was aiming to achieve annual gross domestic product growth of between 6.5 and 8 per cent from 2024 to 2028 and to reduce the poverty rate to 9 per cent by 2028.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had consistently stated that labour migration should be a matter of choice and not of necessity. The Department of Migrant Workers was required to report to Congress on an annual basis and had its work reviewed every five years. In February 2023, the Philippines had ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, which illustrated its desire to be more competitive globally and to draw on its own resources to generate economic opportunities.

A representative of the Philippines said that the Government placed the protection of women workers at the forefront of its migration policies and did not seek to promote overseas employment as a vehicle for economic growth and national development. The Philippines had ranked nineteenth in the 2022 Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum and sixteenth in the economic participation and opportunity subindex.

Efforts had been made to boost women’s employment in the country through the adoption of the Magna Carta of Women, which contained provisions on non-discrimination, and laws providing benefits for single parents and their children, increasing maternity leave, repealing the prohibition on night work for women, criminalizing gender-based sexual harassment in all settings and granting victims of violence the right to up to 10 days of fully paid leave in addition to other paid leaves.

Measures were in place to protect women who chose to work abroad, in particular vulnerable women. The Department of Migrant Workers had offices all over the world, especially in places with a high volume of overseas Philippine workers. The offices cooperated with host governments to rescue, shelter and safely repatriate workers and to file charges against offending employers.

Under the 2006 Household Service Workers Policy, domestic workers were entitled to a monthly minimum wage in United States dollars and a standard employment contract, among other guarantees. The Philippines had played a leading role in the adoption of ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) and of the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. Pursuant to the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, steps were taken to protect individuals from exploitative or disadvantageous work conditions. The Abu Dhabi Dialogue and the Colombo Process, two informal initiatives in which the Philippines was engaged, provided opportunities to discuss and promote domestic workers’ rights.

The Philippines had signed bilateral labour agreements with countries that hosted large numbers of Philippine workers, including Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, returning women workers had benefited from special quarantine and protective measures, with around 4,000 having received medical care. A series of programmes, services and scholarships had been created for the children of migrant workers, for whom sports and recreational activities were organized through the Children’s Circle. A legal assistance fund and the One Repatriation Command Centre had been set up to facilitate the safe repatriation of returning migrant workers.

A representative of the Philippines said that the Government engaged actively with civil society and private sector stakeholders in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of its policies and programmes. The meaningful participation of those stakeholders was facilitated through the Advisory Board on Labour Migration and Development, the Board of Trustees of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. The Department of Migrant Workers was empowered by law to create sectoral and industry task forces and to appoint representatives of civil society organizations as members. Civil society members of the Overseas Land-based Tripartite Consultative Council and the Maritime Industry Tripartite Council had helped to draft the revised rules and regulations of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. In addition, the State provided opportunities for participation in the formulation of national strategic plans, and civil society organizations were represented in the Philippine Migrant Health Network.

Congress had allocated the Department of Migrant Workers a budget of $278 million for 2023, including $60 million for the implementation of the Overseas Employment and Welfare Programme, under which $21.5 million would be used to provide legal services to overseas Philippine workers. The Department had set aside $587,400 for its Labour Migration Policy and International Cooperation Programme, $1.305 million for its Maritime Research and Skills Competency Programme and $2.085 million for the Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital and Diagnostic Centre. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the Department of Social Welfare and Development had been allocated $260 million, $1.8 million and $1.65 million, respectively. The Department of Foreign Affairs had a continuing allocation of $3.67 million for the provision of legal assistance.

All overseas Philippine workers were required to attend pre-employment, predeparture and post-arrival seminars, at which they were informed about the programmes and services of the Department of Migrant Workers and of other agencies. The Department also regularly conducted seminars on the prevention of illegal recruitment and trafficking in persons and published a handbook for overseas Philippine workers.

The Philippines had led the way in the formulation, adoption and ratification of several ILO conventions. The ratification of the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) was currently the subject of tripartite consultations. However, some aspects of the Convention had already been incorporated into domestic rules and regulations; for example, through the adoption of country- and role-specific employment contracts and regulations on the operation of private employment agencies, and through the imposition of limits on fees charged to migrant workers, a requirement for agency-hired workers to be insured and penalties for recruitment violations.

Ms. Ople (Philippines) said that, having been active in the non-governmental sector for 17 years, she recognized the need to encourage civil society participation in the activities of the Department of Migrant Workers. During the preparation of the periodic report, civil society and private sector partners had been requested to submit recommendations and other input. The Philippines had enough democratic space for more systematic and comprehensive engagement with civil society. For that to happen, there was a need for training to enable the Government and its partners to address current and emerging issues.

A representative of the Philippines said that, to date, the Philippines had signed over 40 bilateral labour agreements and 5 regional multilateral labour agreements. Most of the agreements concluded with countries in the Middle East concerned the protection of domestic workers, while those concluded with Japan and with countries in Europe and the Americas tended to focus on the recruitment of Philippine health-care and other skilled workers. The Government was steadfast in enforcing existing bilateral labour agreements and in concluding new agreements with emerging destination countries. It organized regular meetings to coordinate with its partners and had set up a joint technical working group with Saudi Arabia to hold weekly discussions regarding the bilateral labour agreement and the concerns of overseas Philippine workers in the country. In future bilateral labour agreements, the Government intended to include provisions on support mechanisms for migrant workers during pandemics and other crises, enhanced education and training for migrant workers, programmes to support the reintegration of returning workers, the establishment of a dedicated migrant workers’ office in the destination country and the drafting of country-specific employment contracts.

The Seasonal Worker Programme was implemented through a memorandum of understanding between local governments in the Republic of Korea and the Philippines. Given the various gaps in existing agreements, the Department of Migrant Workers had created an inter-agency technical working group to draft policy recommendations on seasonal work and to study the possibility of having an inter-agency memorandum of understanding to adopt the necessary guidelines and institutional arrangements before local governments could deploy seasonal workers to other countries. Several inter-agency meetings had been held to discuss issues and concerns related to the Programme.

A memorandum of understanding between Canada and the Philippines aimed to facilitate the recruitment of Philippine nurses, the registration of unregistered Philippine nurses already living in Canada, and bilateral exchanges on policy development, including in the fields of migration and health care. The memorandum represented a formal collaborative effort between the two Governments to remove barriers to the recognition of the qualifications of Philippine nurses and to protect their rights, as part of efforts to promote sound, ethical and equitable recruitment and employment practices. It would also serve as a pathway towards permanent residency and citizenship, which would allow the family members of Philippine nurses to join them in Canada. She wished to note that destination countries of Philippine health-care workers were often positive and supportive, offering scholarships to nursing students and thereby providing them with access to quality education.

A representative of the Philippines said that, under the Labour Code, migrant workers in the Philippines were afforded the same legal protections as nationals. In 2007 and again in 2014, the Supreme Court had ruled to award back wages and moral and exemplary damages to foreign nationals in the Philippines who had been unfairly dismissed by their Philippine employers. In addition, the Supreme Court had decided in 2015 that migrant workers had the right to claim the benefits of an employment contract even if they did not have the necessary alien employment permit. The Philippines had issued 62,349 alien employment permits in 2022 to arriving migrant workers, and data indicated that there were approximately 9,500 undocumented foreign migrant workers currently in the country.

In response to the Committee’s 2014 concluding observations (CMW/C/PHL/CO/2), his country had strengthened its regulatory regime for private recruitment agencies, including by amending the rules and regulations of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. The State enforced a strict licensing system: between 2018 and 2022, 452 applications had been submitted but only 100 licences had been granted. Any private recruitment agency operating as part of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and failing to adhere to the updated regulatory measures would face the suspension or cancellation of its licence. In 2020, his Government had suspended 124 recruitment agencies and cancelled the licences of 59 as penalties for offences including the collection of excessive fees. The authorities conducted both regular and unannounced inspections of recruitment agencies, and a total of 1,801 such inspections had been carried out in 2022. The rules of the Department of Migrant Workers governing licenses for participation in the overseas recruitment of Philippine workers were currently under review with the aim of strengthening the protection of migrant workers.

In line with article 68 of the Convention, his Government was taking measures to combat online illegal recruitment, including by preventing the dissemination of misleading information. In 2020, a sharp increase had been noted in the number of online illegal recruiters operating over social media platforms, including Facebook. As a result, his Government had strengthened its partnership with the Facebook office in the Philippines and was currently collaborating on the development of a mechanism for reporting exploitation and trafficking in persons.

A representative of the Philippines said that the Government had allocated funds to its embassies and consulates for the provision of legal assistance to Philippine nationals abroad who were in distress. Periodic reports detailing the cases of detained Filipinos abroad were submitted periodically to Congress so as to track their status and determine what assistance they required. The right of migrant workers abroad to vote in Philippine elections was upheld under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act but only Filipinos who were resident in the Philippines had the right to be elected. However, the Philippine political system was designed in such a way as to admit representatives, not only of geographical jurisdictions, but also of certain groups. One such group was that of migrant workers abroad and, therefore, their interests could be adequately represented in the Philippines.

A representative of the Philippines said that the results of a survey conducted in October 2021 indicated that Philippine migrant workers overseas totalled approximately 1.8 million, of which around 60 per cent were female and 40 per cent were male. The Inter-agency Committee on Migration Statistics had been established to identify potential areas for improvement in the field of migration statistics and, in 2017, the Philippines Statistics Authority had approved a recommendation made by the Inter-agency Committee to amend the official concepts and definitions used in relation to migration. A review of data-collection forms and databases was under way and work was ongoing to establish a harmonized database and information sharing system on migration that could be used across State departments, committees and agencies, without compromising data privacy.

Mr. Ceriani Cernadas said that he would be interested to learn more about the State party’s efforts to guarantee the rights of its female migrant workers in destination countries where labour standards, specifically in relation to domestic work, were lacking, especially in instances where such workers were the victims of violence or abuse and required access to justice and reparation. He would be interested to hear the delegation’s response to reports that, in some cases, standard contracts intended to promote the ethical recruitment of domestic workers were ignored and workers were issued with new contracts providing fewer guarantees. He would welcome an assessment of the effectiveness deployment bans issued by the State party against certain countries had had in protecting migrant workers. He was concerned that such measures might, in practice, have the effect of creating more uncertain conditions for migrant workers.

Similarly, he was concerned that new anti-trafficking regulations that prevented Filipinos under 24 years of age from working abroad might have the effect of endangering persons aged between 18 and 24 who wished to seek employment overseas. In that regard, he would also be interested to know why 24 years of age had been chosen instead of 18, the age of majority. The delegation might also provide more information about the tangible steps taken by the State party to ensure that investigations into serious crimes committed against migrant workers, as in the case of the murder of Jullebee Ranara, were conducted in an independent and effective manner and that adequate reparation was provided to victims and the members of their families. Lastly, he would be interested to know more about the measures taken to ensure that the social protection guarantees provided by the State party, including pension rights, were enjoyed by all migrant workers, including those working in countries with weaker social protection systems and those returning to the Philippines to retire.

The Chair said that he had noted with interest that the discovery of the proliferation of falsified documents to deploy underage workers had led to the decision to reclassify the offence of knowingly deploying a worker below the minimum age from “less serious” to “serious” offence. He would be interested to learn about any other similar findings and the action that had been taken as a result. Noting that the State party had reopened its on-site Special Consular Mission in Sabah to register the births of undocumented Filipinos, he wondered whether similar measures were envisaged to address instances in the Middle East where the births of children of migrant workers might not have been registered, a situation which exposed those children to the risk of becoming stateless. Lastly, he wished to express his concern about the legal requirement for migrant workers to remit a portion of their foreign earnings to their legitimate families, dependants and/or beneficiaries. He wondered how such a requirement might be enforced and how “legitimate families, dependants and/or beneficiaries” might be identified.

Mr. Babacar said that he welcomed the ratification by the State party of 8 of the 10 fundamental ILO conventions, including those relevant to migration. He wondered whether the State party planned to ratify the ILO Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) and its 1995 Protocol; the ILO Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129); the ILO Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155); the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181); and the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention 2019 (No. 190), which could serve to strengthen its efforts to protect the rights of its migrant workers.

The meeting rose at 1 p.m.