By Mohammed Osman | 25 January 2017
The Peninsula
Eighteen member countries of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) have adopted the Colombo declaration on Labour recruitment. The fourth ministerial consultation meeting of the ADD held in Colombo on January 24 with participation of 18 Foreign Employment Ministers of the ADD member countries.
A Qatari delegation representing the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs attended the meeting.
All member states agreed on the importance of the need of comprehensive information and orientation programmes for migrant workers.
The Colombo Declaration stated that member countries agreed to cooperate on the design and implementation of coordinated pre departure and post arrival orientation programmes, in addition to cooperation on promoting fair and transparent labour recruitment practices and in the field of skill development and skill recognition.
The declaration emphasised that members have agreed to cooperate in the use of technology and to engage their region in the Global Dialogue on Migration Governance.
The ADD member countries include eleven manpower exporting countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Philippines and seven countries receiving expatriate workers; which are the six GCC states and Malaysia.
G.S Withanage, Secretary of Foreign Employment told The Peninsula that countries exporting manpower and sending labour to the GCC countries needed to have strong regulatory mechanism that will ensure migrant workers safety in the recruitment sector.
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