**ILO Governing Body, 353rd session**
**10 – 20 March 2025**
**ILO agenda and action on fair migration**
**GB.353/POL/1**
**EU statement**
Chair,I speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina\*, the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.
1. We acknowledge the ILO’s constitutional mandate to protect the interests of workers employed in countries other than their own and commend the standards developed in this area.
2. We thank the Office for this report detailing developments since the launch of the Fair Migration Agenda in 2014, which has decent work and the protection of fundamental rights of migrant workers at its core. This is especially important in sectors that present a higher risk of forced labour, exploitation and abuse, occupational safety and health hazards, and exclusion from social protection. We support the ILO’s leading role in enhancing labour rights and protection and access to justice for migrant workers, reaffirm our commitment to the ILO’s Fair Recruitment Initiative and call for strengthened cooperation to uphold fair recruitment principles.
3. Free movement of workers has been one of the four founding freedoms at the heart of European integration. It grants EU nationals the right to work in any EU Member State and enjoy equal treatment with nationals of that state. EU legislation ensures that legally residing foreign workers receive equal treatment, including access to decent work, social security benefits and, in some cases, social assistance, and that they can carry acquired rights in the area of social security, including for their family members, when moving across borders within the EU. We support regional integration projects that promote free movement of workers in other parts of the world.
4. Labour migration is closely linked to the functioning of the labour market and is part of a comprehensive approach to migration. Effective communication onnational level
between ministries of labour, migration, and other relevant sectors, such as economy and education, is essential for a whole-of-government approach to maximise the potential of legal and regular labour migration. We recognise that the ILO, and its International Training Centre in Turin, has valuable interdisciplinary expertise in areas such as functioning of the labour market, including labour inspection, labour market data, fair recruitment, job matching, labour market integration, including re-integration upon return, workers’ representation, skilling systems, skills anticipation, and recognition of skills and qualifications, and policy coherence between these areas. This expertise is grounded in a tripartite approach.
5. In the context of the triple transition, it is crucial to anticipate skills needs in the evolving national and international labour markets. Involving social partners and ministries of labour can ensure a robust analysis. This can, in turn, help better design cooperation between partner countries and EU Member States willing to address shortages of workers through partnerships. Promoting adequate qualifications relevant to the labour markets in both destination and origin countries is key for the long-term success of labour migration. The ILO supports the EU and several EU Member States in their cooperation with certain partner countries, for example through Talent Partnerships, alongside other key partners like the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
6. We welcome the ILO’s involvement in global cooperation frameworks on migration. We also acknowledge the ILO’s argument that institutions and actors of the world of work are often underrepresented in global migration discussions.
7. We therefore support the first edition of a tripartite global forum on migration and the world of work. Organising this forum under the Global Coalition for Social Justice could enhance synergies within the UN system and expand outreach. We ask for openness to all ILO constituents not currently partners of the Coalition. We call the Office to inform the ILO governance about the forum’s results and to involve the Governing Body in further strategic decisions. We encourage the ILO to coordinate with other key actors in the labour migration field, particularly the IOM.Thank you, Chair.
_\*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process._