Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)

Other comments on C097

Direct Request

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Article 1 of the Convention. Information on national policies laws and regulations. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the Caribbean Community (Free Movement) of Skilled Persons Act, 1997, is still under review and that amendments have been drafted to expand and redefine the categories of workers who are to benefit under the Act. The Committee further notes the amendments of the Foreign National Act regarding “Preferred Business Travellers” and the adoption of the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act 2006 and the Government’s indication that the wider population has been made aware of human trafficking as a concern related to migration. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the revised Caribbean Community (Free Movement) of Skilled Persons Act, once adopted, along with information on its implementation in practice.

Article 3. Misleading propaganda. With regard to measures to protect migrant workers from abuse or misleading advertising by private employment agencies, the Committee notes the additional information provided by the Government regarding the monitoring role of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS). It also notes the Government’s statement that in the event of misleading information, the Employment Agency Regulatory Unit of the MLSS seeks to resolve the issue through reconciliation. Where the Agency refuses to comply, the offended party may solicit an intervention by the police. However, the Government indicates that there is no record of such instances but that the cooperation with the United States Embassy, through which job contracts or approved petitions can be verified, has been useful to minimize instances of abuse. The Committee encourages the Government to take measures to record cases in which agencies have been found guilty of advertising misleading information on overseas employment, and asks the Government to provide information on the outcome of such cases for the migrant workers involved, as well as for the employment agency. Please continue to provide information on how the Government is cooperating with other States to prevent and combat misleading propaganda in accordance with Article 3(2) of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Statistics and practical application. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government on the issuing or renewal of work permits between 2009 and 2011. It notes that, in the year 2010–11, most of the applications that were approved concerned professionals, senior officials and technicians and were issued for a period of less than 12 months. With regard to industries, most requests for approval of new, or the renewal of, work permits concerned construction and installation, transport storage and communication, as well as wholesale and retail, etc. For the period April 2010 to March 2011, most work permit recipients were from Asia (1994 out of 3,354 permits issued) with 77.7 per cent of them being men. With respect to the employment of Jamaicans overseas, the Committee notes that in 2010–11, 3,673 male Jamaican contract workers were employed on farms in the United States; 6,038 men and 317 women contract workers were employed on farms or in factories in Canada; and 292 men and 532 women contract workers were employed as hotel workers. Please continue to supply detailed statistics, disaggregated by sex and nationality, on the number of work permits requested, approved or refused in the various industries and occupations in Jamaica, and on the number of Jamaican workers seeking employment overseas. The Government is also requested to communicate information on the relevant activities of the labour inspectorate to ensure the application of the Convention.