The inclusion of labour and social protection provisions in bilateral and multilateral labour migration agreements is key to ensuring safe, orderly, fair and regular migration outcomes. Capacity-building of Public employment services can be strengthened to provide improved labour mobility and recruitment services. The recruitment of migrant workers by private employment agencies can be monitored to ensure fair labour migration outcomes. The ILO, together with the World Bank, is the custodian of SDG indicator 10.7.1 on recruitment cost borne by employees as a proportion of yearly income earned in country of destination;

In May 2017, through the ILO project “Improved labour migration governance to protect migrant workers and combat irregular migration”, the Government of Ethiopia signed a bilateral labour agreement with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where signatories committed to protect the rights and benefits of Ethiopian domestic workers. The agreement offered a legal framework that enhances co-operation, protects the rights of employers and domestic workers, and governs the contractual relationships between them. With the financial support of the EU, the ILO developed a model Memorandum of Understanding and standardized employment contracts in line with international instruments on the basis of which the Government of Ethiopia could negotiate favourable and rights-based recruitment and employment conditions for Ethiopian workers in key countries of destination.

• It has supported the negotiation of a bilateral labour agreement between Madagascar and Lebanon.
• The ILO has also commented on several Bilateral Labour Agreements including Mali-Qatar.