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Ryszard Cholewinski
Migration Senior Specialist
ILO Regional Office for Arab States

Tel : +961-1-752400 (Ext. 217)
Fax : +961-1-752405
Email : cholewinski@ilo.org

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The ILO in the United Arab Emirates

  • © ILO

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been an ILO member state since 1972 and has ratified nine ILO Conventions, including six core Conventions. The UAE hosts some 8.7 million migrant workers – equivalent to over 80 per cent of the country’s resident population – making it one of the largest foreign labour-receiving countries in the world. With Emirati nationals mainly employed in the public sector, migrant workers constitute the bulk of private sector employment. The ILO and the UAE have recently embarked on a project that aims to empower the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization (MoHRE) by building its institutional capacities to enable it to create and maintain safe and healthy workspaces in all sectors of the economy. More on the UAE

What's new

  1. Press release

    The UAE introduces voluntary pensions to replace end-of-service indemnities, joining an increasing trend of reforms across the GCC countries

    08 April 2024

  2. Press release

    ILO Launches Flagship Study on Extending Social Protection to Migrant Workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries

    30 November 2023

  3. Online Event

    Social protection in the Gulf countries: what rights can migrant workers access?

    28 November 2023

List all

Photos

  1. Browse our UAE pictures

With ILO Support the UAE:

  1. Domestic Workers

    • Established an Undersecretary for Domestic Workers’ Affairs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.
    • Adopted a Domestic Workers Law on legal working conditions for domestic worker.

  2. International Labour Standards

    • Developed a national labour inspection policy.
    • Drafted a national occupational safety and health policy.

  3. Labour Migration

    • Developed three interrelated decrees on contract switching, termination and labour force mobility.
    • Created a labour inspection coordination department to target high risk employment and bolster migrant worker protection.

Focus on our projects

  1. Regional Fair Migration Project in the Middle East (FAIRWAY)

  2. Innovations in labour market governance programme

Publications

  1. Ways forward in recruitment of low-­skilled migrant workers in the Asia-­Arab states corridor

    This White Paper serves to further stimulate policy dialogue for fair migration in the countries of origin and destination in Asia the Arab States corridor