BY YOHANES JEMANEH
Economic challenges can be taken as the major factor that pushes people to go far in search of better income and fill the gaps in their lives. Every year, millions of people Trek Mountains, cross rivers and borders risking their lives to escape the hustle and bustle of lives.
Mobility has been an integral part of human lives since the creation of the world. People travel long distances to get jobs and lead decent life. That is why the rate of migration has been alarmingly surging with no sign of declining.
Human migration tends to be high in volatile regions facing myriads of natural and man-made burdens. The number paints grime realities in war-torn, conflict-ridden, and drought-hit regions like the Horn of Africa. Despite its ugly face, migration sometimes serves as an opportunity for the migrants and host countries as well.
According to IOM, there are 7.7 million migrant workers in the East and Horn of Africa. These huge numbers of workers employ their knowledge and labor to improve their lives thereby availing huge remittances to their respective countries.
The migrant workers might face problems related to health, culture shock, insufficient payment, miscommunication, and so on. Therefore they need legal protection to assure their rights wherever they are. These days, countries and regional blocs are entering agreements to provide social and legal protection to migrant workers.
Of course, there is no one size fits all solution to the problem, but governments are looking for a better prescription to create enabling environment for migrant workers. To exploit the potential of migrants though, countries need to come up with legal protection and sound policies.
In this regard, members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have set the Djibouti Declaration to ensure Social Protection for Migrant Workers. A Regional Workshop was recently held in Addis on Extending this Social Protection for Migrant Workers.
The workshop organized by IGAD in collaboration with ILO aimed at validating the study and exchange experiences on the extension of social protection to migrant workers in the region within the context of the IGAD Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and to identify key priority activities that need to be considered in the Program for Implementation of Djibouti Declaration.
The workshop also created an opportunity for Member States to discuss and exchange experiences on the portability of social protection benefits as stated in the IGAD Protocol on Free Movement of Persons. Free Movement of Persons Protocol, Declaration on Labor, Employment and labor Migration, and Migration Policy Framework are among the instruments of IGAD to promote Social Protection.
According to the Secretary-General of the Confederation of IGAD Employers Dawit Moges, the young people who are working abroad and returning home and those who are still working in the destination countries need to have access to Social Protection benefits. He mentioned that social protection is a human right that everyone has to get access to while underlining the importance of ratifying the conventions.
Migrant workers face difficulties in accessing social protection because of legal barriers, nationality issues and residence requirements as well as limited periods of employment and administrative barriers, including challenges in terms of maintenance of their rights in the course of acquisition and lack of harmonization between social protection systems.
There has to be an effort between the IGAD Member States to ensure Social Protection for migrants’ workers in their countries of destination. It was learned that the importance of ensuring Social Protection in the country of origin and destination.
Attending the event, the Sudanese Chair of IGAD, Salah Mohamed underlined the importance of extending social protection to migrant workers which will reduce the vulnerability of migrant workers. He mentioned the immediate need for the implementation of a Regional Protocol and Declaration to ensure the right of citizens including migrant workers.
Ethiopia is one of the countries with limited coverage of social protection and the government is in the process of developing broad plans for all segments of the society. The Ethiopian Private Organizations’ Employees Social Security Agency Deputy Director Dereje Wube believed that the Productive safety net is one of the social protection programs in Ethiopia supporting food insecure people.
For Ephrem Getnet, ILO Chief Technical Advisor, Social protection is a human right and it is one of the four indicators of decent work agenda. “There is low coverage of Social Protection and migrants’ workers are usually excluded from the scheme,” he said.
Coverage deficits have also been associated with the lack of a rights-based approach to social protection, weak governance and administration, and weak policy and institutional coordination. Considering the political, social, and economic imperative for accelerating the extension of social protection in Africa, the region launched the Africa Regional Social Protection Strategy 2021-2025. The Strategy is aimed at the extension of social protection coverage from the current 17 to 40% by 2025 with a strong focus on the informal and rural economy, efforts at formalization as well as enhancing fiscal space and sustainable financing for social protection.
The workshop helped participants to improve their knowledge about international, regional, and national instruments and policy frameworks on social protection in general and on extending social protection for migrant workers in particular.
The project on the free movement of persons and transhumance in the IGAD Region conducted a baseline study on extending social protection for migrant workers to identify challenges, and opportunities and recommend policy options to extend social protection for migrant workers and ensure portability of social security benefits in close collaboration with IGAD secretariat.
Among other things, the study identified different levels of the development of social security systems, insufficient technical and administrative capacities to manage social security agreements; lack of experience in the portability of social security rights, as well as low level of coverage, represents major challenges to ensuring access to and portability of social security benefits in the IGAD region. Despite the challenges, the study also identified opportunities and provides recommendations for developing bilateral and multi-lateral social security agreements in IGAD Region.
The IGAD Protocol on Free Movement of Persons in Article 9 calls upon the Member States to facilitate through IGAD or bilateral arrangements the portability of social security benefits to citizens of another Member State residing or established in the host Member State. Likewise, the IGAD Regional Guidelines on Rights-based Bilateral Labor Agreements underlined the need for elaborating social protection provisions in drafting and negotiating bilateral labor agreements with countries of destination.
In April 2022, Ministers from 11 countries in the East and Horn of Africa have signed two agreements committing to work closely to realize the benefits of migration for sustainable development and economic growth while enhancing protection.
The ministers incorporated from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda signed the agreement promising to work together to realize the potential of labor migration as a contributor to the region’s development.
“Ethiopia will take the lead in facilitating fora on migration, targeting issues regarding bilateral labor migration agreements, ethical recruitment, social welfare of migrant workers, cross-border trade, and human development – with particular emphasis on youth and women empowerment and labor migration data and statistics,” said Labor and Skills Minister Muferihat Kamil after signing the agreement.
Various organizations also promised to support the eastern African nations in their endeavors to assure social protection for migrant workers. IOM’s Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa Mohammed Abdiker pledged his organization’s support to this end. “IOM stands ready to support governments in the East and Horn of Africa region to explore ways in which the outcomes of these two new agreements can be mainstreamed into migration and labor migration national strategies,” he said.
To sum up, every individual has a right to work wherever he/she wants if with due respect to the legal procedures and job requirements. In return, the workers should get the guarantee of social protection including economic and health issues. In this regard, countries especially in east Africa must strengthen their cooperation to protect these people and achieve economic benefit thereby the amount of remittance to their respective nations.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 17 AUGUST 2022
