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The General Conference of the International
Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva
by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having
met in its Sixtieth Session on 4 June 1975, and
Considering that the Preamble
of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation assigns
to it the task of protecting the interests of workers when employed
in countries other than their own, and
Considering that the Declaration
of Philadelphia reaffirms, among the principles on which the Organisation
is based, that labour is not a commodity, and that poverty anywhere
constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere, and recognises the
solemn obligation of the ILO to further programmes which will achieve
in particular full employment through the transfer of labour, including
for employment ...,
Considering the ILO World
Employment Programme and the Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation,
1964, and emphasising the need to avoid the excessive and uncontrolled
or unassisted increase of migratory movements because of their negative
social and human consequences, and
Considering that in order
to overcome underdevelopment and structural and chronic unemployment,
the governments of many countries increasingly stress the desirability
of encouraging the transfer of capital and technology rather than
the transfer of workers in accordance with the needs and requests
of these countries in the reciprocal interest of the countries of
origin and the countries of employment, and
Considering the right of everyone
to leave any country, including his own, and to enter his own country,
as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and
Recalling the provisions contained
in the Migration for Employment Convention and Recommendation (Revised),
1949, in the Protection of Migrant Workers (Underdeveloped Countries)
Recommendation, 1955, in the Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation,
1964, in the Employment Service Convention and Recommendation, 1948,
and in the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised),
1949, which deal with such matters as the regulation of the recruitment,
introduction and placing of migrant workers, the provision of accurate
information relating to migration, the minimum conditions to be
enjoyed by migrants in transit and on arrival, the adoption of an
active employment policy and international collaboration in these
matters, and
Considering that the migration
of workers due to conditions in labour markets should take place
under the responsibility of official agencies for employment or
in accordance with the relevant bilateral or multilateral agreements,
in particular those permitting free circulation of workers, and
Considering that evidence
of the existence of illicit and clandestine trafficking in labour
calls for further standards specifically aimed at eliminating these
abuses, and
Recalling the provisions of
the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949, which require
ratifying Members to apply to immigrants lawfully within their territory
treatment not less favourable than that which they apply to their
nationals in respect of a variety of matters which it enumerates,
in so far as these are regulated by laws or regulations or subject
to the control of administrative authorities, and
Recalling that the definition
of the term "discrimination" in the Discrimination (Employment
and Occupation) Convention, 1958, does not mandatorily include distinctions
on the basis of nationality, and
Considering that further standards,
covering also social security, are desirable in order to promote
equality of opportunity and treatment of migrant workers and, with
regard to matters regulated by laws or regulations or subject to
the control of administrative authorities, ensure treatment at least
equal to that of nationals, and
Noting that, for the full
success of action regarding the very varied problems of migrant
workers, it is essential that there be close co-operation with the
United Nations and other specialised agencies, and
Noting that, in the framing
of the following standards, account has been taken of the work of
the United Nations and of other specialised agencies and that, with
a view to avoiding duplication and to ensuring appropriate co-ordination,
there will be continuing co-operation in promoting and securing
the application of the standards, and
Having decided upon the adoption
of certain proposals with regard to migrant workers, which is the
fifth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these
proposals shall take the form of an international Convention supplementing
the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949, and the
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958,
adopts the twenty-fourth
day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five,
the following Convention, which may be cited as the Migrant Workers
(Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975:
Part I. Migrations in Abusive Conditions
Article 1
Each Member for which this Convention
is in force undertakes to respect the basic human rights of all
migrant workers.
Article 2
1. Each Member for which this Convention
is in force shall systematically seek to determine whether there
are illegally employed migrant workers on its territory and whether
there depart from, pass through or arrive in its territory any movements
of migrants for employment in which the migrants are subjected during
their journey, on arrival or during their period of residence and
employment to conditions contravening relevant international multilateral
or bilateral instruments or agreements, or national laws or regulations.
2. The representative organisations
of employers and workers shall be fully consulted and enabled to
furnish any information in their possession on this subject.
Article 3
Each Member shall adopt all necessary
and appropriate measures, both within its jurisdiction and in collaboration
with other Members--
(a) to suppress clandestine movements
of migrants for employment and illegal employment of migrants,
and
(b) against the organisers of illicit
or clandestine movements of migrants for employment departing
from, passing through or arriving in its territory, and against
those who employ workers who have immigrated in illegal conditions,
in order to prevent and to eliminate the abuses referred to in
Article 2 of this Convention.
Article 4
In particular, Members shall take
such measures as are necessary, at the national and the international
level, for systematic contact and exchange of information on the
subject with other States, in consultation with representative organisations
of employers and workers.
Article 5
One of the purposes of the measures
taken under Articles 3 and 4 of this Convention shall be that the
authors of manpower trafficking can be prosecuted whatever the country
from which they exercise their activities.
Article 6
1. Provision shall be made under
national laws or regulations for the effective detection of the
illegal employment of migrant workers and for the definition and
the application of administrative, civil and penal sanctions, which
include imprisonment in their range, in respect of the illegal employment
of migrant workers, in respect of the organisation of movements
of migrants for employment defined as involving the abuses referred
to in Article 2 of this Convention, and in respect of knowing assistance
to such movements, whether for profit or otherwise.
2. Where an employer is prosecuted
by virtue of the provision made in pursuance of this Article, he
shall have the right to furnish proof of his good faith.
Article 7
The representative organisations
of employers and workers shall be consulted in regard to the laws
and regulations and other measures provided for in this Convention
and designed to prevent and eliminate the abuses referred to above,
and the possibility of their taking initiatives for this purpose
shall be recognised.
Article 8
1. On condition that he has resided
legally in the territory for the purpose of employment, the migrant
worker shall not be regarded as in an illegal or irregular situation
by the mere fact of the loss of his employment, which shall not
in itself imply the withdrawal of his authorisation of residence
or, as the case may be, work permit.
2. Accordingly, he shall enjoy equality
of treatment with nationals in respect in particular of guarantees
of security of employment, the provision of alternative employment,
relief work and retraining.
Article 9
1. Without prejudice to measures
designed to control movements of migrants for employment by ensuring
that migrant workers enter national territory and are admitted to
employment in conformity with the relevant laws and regulations,
the migrant worker shall, in cases in which these laws and regulations
have not been respected and in which his position cannot be regularised,
enjoy equality of treatment for himself and his family in respect
of rights arising out of past employment as regards remuneration,
social security and other benefits.
2. In case of dispute about the rights
referred to in the preceding paragraph, the worker shall have the
possibility of presenting his case to a competent body, either himself
or through a representative.
3. In case of expulsion of the worker
or his family, the cost shall not be borne by them.
4. Nothing in this Convention shall
prevent Members from giving persons who are illegally residing or
working within the country the right to stay and to take up legal
employment.
Part II. Equality of Opportunity and Treatment
Article 10
Each Member for which the Convention
is in force undertakes to declare and pursue a national policy designed
to promote and to guarantee, by methods appropriate to national
conditions and practice, equality of opportunity and treatment in
respect of employment and occupation, of social security, of trade
union and cultural rights and of individual and collective freedoms
for persons who as migrant workers or as members of their families
are lawfully within its territory.
Article 11
1. For the purpose of this Part of
this Convention, the term migrant worker means a person who migrates
or who has migrated from one country to another with a view to being
employed otherwise than on his own account and includes any person
regularly admitted as a migrant worker.
2. This Part of this Convention does not apply to--
(a) frontier workers;
(b) artistes and members of the
liberal professions who have entered the country on a short-term
basis;
(c) seamen;
(d) persons coming specifically
for purposes of training or education;
(e) employees of organisations
or undertakings operating within the territory of a country who
have been admitted temporarily to that country at the request
of their employer to undertake specific duties or assignments,
for a limited and defined period of time, and who are required
to leave that country on the completion of their duties or assignments.
Article 12
Each Member shall, by methods appropriate
to national conditions and practice--
(a) seek the co-operation of employers'
and workers' organisations and other appropriate bodies in promoting
the acceptance and observance of the policy provided for in Article
10 of this Convention;
(b) enact such legislation and
promote such educational programmes as may be calculated to secure
the acceptance and observance of the policy;
(c) take measures, encourage educational
programmes and develop other activities aimed at acquainting migrant
workers as fully as possible with the policy, with their rights
and obligations and with activities designed to give effective
assistance to migrant workers in the exercise of their rights
and for their protection;
(d) repeal any statutory provisions
and modify any administrative instructions or practices which
are inconsistent with the policy;
(e) in consultation with representative
organisations of employers and workers, formulate and apply a
social policy appropriate to national conditions and practice
which enables migrant workers and their families to share in advantages
enjoyed by its nationals while taking account, without adversely
affecting the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment,
of such special needs as they may have until they are adapted
to the society of the country of employment;
(f) take all steps to assist and
encourage the efforts of migrant workers and their families to
preserve their national and ethnic identity and their cultural
ties with their country of origin, including the possibility for
children to be given some knowledge of their mother tongue;
(g) guarantee equality of treatment,
with regard to working conditions, for all migrant workers who
perform the same activity whatever might be the particular conditions
of their employment.
Article 13
1. A Member may take all necessary
measures which fall within its competence and collaborate with other
Members to facilitate the reunification of the families of all migrant
workers legally residing in its territory.
2. The members of the family of the
migrant worker to which this Article applies are the spouse and
dependent children, father and mother.
Article 14
A Member may--
(a) make the free choice of employment,
while assuring migrant workers the right to geographical mobility,
subject to the conditions that the migrant worker has resided
lawfully in its territory for the purpose of employment for a
prescribed period not exceeding two years or, if its laws or regulations
provide for contracts for a fixed term of less than two years,
that the worker has completed his first work contract;
(b) after appropriate consultation
with the representative organisations of employers and workers,
make regulations concerning recognition of occupational qualifications
acquired outside its territory, including certificates and diplomas;
(c) restrict access to limited
categories of employment or functions where this is necessary
in the interests of the State.
Part III Final Provisions
Article 15
This Convention does not prevent
Members from concluding multilateral or bilateral agreements with
a view to resolving problems arising from its application.
Article 16
1. Any Member which ratifies this
Convention may, by a declaration appended to its ratification, exclude
either Part I or Part II from its acceptance of the Convention.
2. Any Member which has made such
a declaration may at any time cancel that declaration by a subsequent
declaration.
3. Every Member for which a declaration
made under paragraph 1 of this Article is in force shall indicate
in its reports upon the application of this Convention the position
of its law and practice in regard to the provisions of the Part
excluded from its acceptance, the extent to which effect has been
given, or is proposed to be given, to the said provision and the
reasons for which it has not yet included them in its acceptance
of the Convention.
Article 17
The formal ratifications of this
Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the
International Labour Office for registration.
Article 18
1. This Convention shall be binding
only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation
whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.
2. It shall come into force twelve
months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members
have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall
come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which
its ratifications has been registered.
Article 19
1. A Member which has ratified this
Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from
the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an Act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour
Office for registration. Such denunciation should not take effect
until one year after the date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member which has ratified
this Convention and which does not, within the year following the
expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this
Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter,
may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of
ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.
Article 20
1. The Director-General of the International
Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour
Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations
communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration
of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General
shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to the
date upon which the Convention will come into force.
Article 21
The Director-General of the International
Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the
United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of
the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications
and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 22
At such times as may consider necessary
the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present
to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention
and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 23
1. Should the Conference adopt a
new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then,
unless the new Convention otherwise provides:
a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention
shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention,
notwithstanding the provisions of Article 19 above, if and when
the new revising Convention shall have come into force;
b) as from the date when the new
revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease
to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention shall in any case
remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members
which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 24
The English and French versions of
the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.
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