Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 1963)

1.  The Committee notes the statistics supplied by the Government on the number of nationals participating in collective migration programmes under which seasonal farm workers are recruited temporarily each year to work in Canada, and the considerable increase of workers now involved in these programmes: 873 in 1995 as compared to 475 in 1999. It also notes that, in view of this increase, the Government has had to increase its staff complement in Canada. In its General Survey of 1999 on migrant workers, the Committee noted that the extent, direction and nature of international labour migration had undergone profound changes since the adoption of the Convention (see paragraphs 5-17 of the General Survey). It would be grateful if the Government would indicate how current trends in migration flows have affected the content and implementation of its national emigration and immigration policy and legislation. It asks the Government to provide a copy of any new laws or regulations together with up-to-date information on the emigration and immigration policy, in response to the questions set out in the report form for the Convention.

2.  The Committee notes that the Immigration (Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals) Act, 1996 (No. 26) has been adopted but has not yet come into force. The Act aims to facilitate the movement and establishment of certain categories of workers in the region. The Committee observes that other countries, which are also members of CARICOM, have informed it that they have adopted similar legislation. The Committee also notes that Trinidad and Tobago ratified the regional CARICOM Agreement on Social Security in 1999, the aim of which is to protect the rights of the workers concerned, particularly the right to equal treatment when they move from one country of employment to another. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of the entry into force of Act No. 26 of 1996 and to provide a copy of it.

3.  The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the practical application of its equal treatment policy in the areas listed in subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of Article 6 of the Convention. Recalling that under paragraph 1 of this Article, every State which ratifies the Convention undertakes to apply, without distinction as to nationality, race, religion or sex, to immigrants lawfully within its territory, treatment no less favourable than that which it applies to its own nationals in respect of the matters enumerated in subparagraphs (a) to (d) of Article 6, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that women migrant workers are treated on an equal footing with their male counterparts, foreign or otherwise, in terms of working and living conditions, work-related tax and access to the justice system - in view of the growing feminization of labour migration (see paragraphs 20-23 and 658 of the abovementioned General Survey). It would appreciate receiving, for instance, statistics on the number of seasonal farm workers recruited for temporary work in Canada each year, disaggregated by sex.

4.  Article 8.  This provision was among the most frequently cited by governments as being difficult to apply, at the time of the General Survey (see paragraphs 600-608 of the General Survey). The Committee would therefore ask the Government to provide information on how, in practice, the right to residence of migrant workers admitted on a permanent basis is maintained in the event of incapacity for work.