Promoting Safe Migration from Pakistan: Pakistan’s Second Migrant Resource Centre Inaugurated in Lahore
LAHORE – A new Migrant Resource Center has been launched in Lahore to offer a range of support services to (potential) migrants, migrant workers, and their families including information, counselling referral and pre-departure orientation.
Pakistan’s second Migrant Resource Center (MRC) in Lahore will provide similar counselling services as the Islamabad MRC which was opened in Islamabad on 12 April 2016.
The Department of Labour and Human Resource Punjab established the Migrant Resource Center (MRC) in Lahore with the support from the EU-funded “South Asia Labour Migration Governance Project” (SALM) implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the EU funded project “Silk Routes Partnership for Migration” implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.
MRC play a critical role in dealing with common abuses of migrants such as underpayment of wages, confiscation of passports, substandard working conditions and confinement in the workplace, is to ensure that migrants are equipped with knowledge and strategies to safeguard their labour- and human rights throughout the migration cycle.
The Centre was inaugurated by the Honourable Minister for Labour and Human Resource, Punjab Mr. Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, along with the Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to Pakistan, Mr. Bernard Francois; Mr. Ottó Fábrik, Representative of the Ministry of Interior of Hungary; Ms. Tomoko Nishimoto, Assistant Director-General/Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, International Labour Organization; Ms. Ingrid Christensen, Country Director, ILO Country Office for Pakistan and Ms. Sedef Dearing, Senior Regional Advisor, Silk Routes, ICMPD.
Mr. Saleem Hussain, DG Labour Welfare, Department of labour and Human Resource Department, Government of Punjab said that his department is very much concerned about the protection and welfare of migrant workers and believes that “Solution of problems of migrant workers lies in formulation of better governance of labour migration by both the labour sending and receiving countries and by providing more and more information to the migrant workers under one roof” he also showed commitment to replicate the MRC model in other parts of the province.
In his presentation on the MRC, Mr. Tahir Manzoor, Senior Director, Industrial Relations Institute, L&HRD Punjab mentioned that “from 1971 till today about 9 million Pakistanis have proceeded abroad for employment, mostly go to GCC countries. The majority of workers are low skilled workers and lack of information on safe migration, access to support mechanisms and justice add to their vulnerabilities and thus they face exploitation and abuse during recruitment and employment process”. He emphasised that “the main purpose of the MRC is to provide accurate and timely information on safe and legal migration, referral and counselling, as well as raising awareness of irregular migration and the related serious risks”.
Ms. Sedef Dearing, Senior Regional Advisor, Silk Routes, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) mentioned in her speech “that these MRCs are an outcome of partnership of not only EU, ILO and ICMPD but also several other countries as well, namely Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom”. She recalled the series of events held under Budapest Process which resulted in the decision to support the establishment of MRCs and mentioned that “providing the correct information to the right people is crucial when smugglers attempt to fill in the deficit of information. It is important that right skills are matched with the right jobs so that migrants and the countries of origin and destination make the best use of these skills”.
Ms. Ingrid Christensen, Country Director of ILO Country Office for Pakistan congratulated the Department of Labour and Human Resource Punjab for the successful establishment of the Migrant Resource Centre in Lahore.
“Migrant workers are important drivers of development not only in their country of destination where they take on jobs that local workers are unable or simply do not want to do, unfortunately, they face various types of exploitation and abuses at all stages of migration cycle” Ms. Ingrid said, emphasizing that “partnership is a key, to achieve tangible and sustainable results to promote safe migration and this MRC is a good example of an effective partnership”.
Mr. Ottó Fábrik, Representative of the Ministry of Interior of Hungary expressed his great pleasure to officially launching the MRC and congratulated the department and stakeholders. “People migrate in search of employment and study so that can contribute to the welfare of their families, unfortunately the well-organized human smugglers and traffickers group take advantage of this, and trap them by providing false information to the vulnerable migrants in order to mislead them and gain more profit without bothering about the future of their victims and their families” he commented. He believes that “the MRCs here in Lahore will be a good source of information for potential migrants to get information on safe migration and consequences of irregular migration”.
Addressing the inaugural event, Mr. Bernard Francois, Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to Pakistan said that “historically, Europe has been both a source and a destination for migration, and labour migration is also very much at the heart of the European Union today and while migration can benefit societies in many ways, it can also pose problems, in particular, if it takes place illegally, and at the moment Europe is in the middle of an unprecedented crisis of illegal migration, which constitutes a serious test of our cooperation. Illegal migration is not only a problem for the recipient country but also pose serious threats to migrants themselves, therefore we look forward an effective partnership with the government of Pakistan to combat this menace”.
Ms. Tomoko Nishimoto, Assistant Director-General/Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific of ILO said that “The ILO is the only UN agency with a constitutional mandate to protect migrant workers. The ILO Constitution – which will be one hundred years old in 1919 – speaks to the needs of protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own, they should be treated as human beings, not as a commodity”.
She also suggested that Pakistan government should consider the ratification of international standards related to labour migration, including the two ILO Conventions Nos. 97 and 143. She stressed that “to achieve sustainable development, it must address inequalities in all areas and must apply to all social and economic groups. A powerful means to reduce inequality, particularly affecting migrants, is through the protection of human rights and labour rights, which form the cornerstone of fairer migration policies”.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Minister for Labour and Human Resource, Punjab stated that “the department is very much concerned about the protection and welfare of migrants”. He, however, hoped that “we cannot do anything alone, we need to establish a strong coordination among all provinces and with the federal ministry, ratification of international conventions and research is a key to improving migration governance”. He thanked the EU, ILO and ICMPD for their support to set up the new MRC in Lahore.