Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) - Barbados (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report, due since 2017, has not been received. In light of its urgent appeal launched to the Government in 2020, the Committee proceeds with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal.

Article 7(2) of the Convention. Free services rendered by public employment offices. In its previous comments, the Committee stressed that the requirement for migrant workers participating in the Canada–Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme the “Farm Labour Programme” – to remit 25 per cent of their earnings to the Government directly from Canada as mandatory savings, 5 per cent of which was retained to pay the administrative costs of the Programme, is contrary to the clear purpose of Article 7 of the Convention, as services rendered by public employment services in connection with the recruitment, introduction and placement of migrants for employment are to be provided free of charge (2016 General Survey concerning the migrant workers instruments, paragraph 229). In the absence of any updated information in this respect, the Committee urges the Government:

• (i) to discontinue the practice of forcing migrant workers enrolled under the Farm Labour Programme to remit a certain percentage of their wages to cover administrative costs, and
• (ii) to provide information on any steps taken, in cooperation with the workers’ and employers’ organizations, to review the impact of the Farm Labour Programme on the situation of Barbadian migrant workers.

Article 9. Free transfer of remittances. The Committee recalls that, requiring nationals working abroad to transfer a certain percentage of their earnings or savings to the Government is contrary to the clear intent of Article 9 of the Convention and, in this regard, wishes to stress the importance of reducing remittance costs in the context of the debate on effective governance of international labour migration (Sustainable Development Goal 10.c of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda aims to reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances by 2030). In light of the above, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that migrants for employment are permitted to transfer such part of their earnings and savings as they desire, taking into account the limits allowed by national laws and regulations concerning the export and import of currencies.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.