Protecting the vulnerable: migration, work and human rights due diligence

Vulnerability and precarious employment are an embedded feature of international economic migration, particularly among lower-skilled migrant workers. In many cases, the forms of migration status offered by the host country impose precarious conditions of work and life and create or exacerbate vulnerability. Such restrictive conditions of entry, stay and/or work legitimize migrants' inequality with locals and erode the protections otherwise afforded by human rights and international labour standards. In contrast to what many believe, international law limits the state's discretion through its human rights obligations to prevent harm or deprivation, to any person, regardless of migration status, through its actions or omissions and to protect against third party abuses. By this reasoning, states and other actors involved in migration governance should identify and eliminate conditions of migration status and related circumstances that contribute to vulnerability. Recent evidence shows that coordination helps to balance labour market supply and demand across countries, create locals jobs in the formal economy, raise public revenue for social protection systems, and enhance conditions of work and life for local and migrant workers alike.