Report for Anti-Slavery International on Access to Remedy for Migrant Workers

Although today migrant workers play an important role in global economies by providing a vital labour workforce in destination countries, they often face specific and heightened challenges compared to other workers when accessing remedies. These challenges can include both inherent vulnerabilities, including due to cultural and language barriers, as well as external barriers, such as laws and remedy mechanisms that are on occasion designed to exclude migrants.

Key findings and recommendations from the project contributed to advancing the dialogue on remedy for migrant workers, identifying practical entry points to strengthen grievance mechanisms across sectors and jurisdictions.

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In 2020–2021, GRC in collaboration with C – Lever, authored a report for Anti-Slavery International addressing the role of governments, businesses, employers and trade unions to improve migrant workers’ access to remedy.
Key findings and recommendations were the result of in-depth research as well as months of consultations with a variety of stakeholders – NGOs, civil society, trade unions, and multinational companies – to gather information on grievance mechanisms and their suitability in providing effective access to remedy for migrant workers.
The mechanisms analysed included trade union-based models, worker-driven avenues for remedy, civil society organisations-led grievance mechanisms, company-led operational grievance mechanisms and industry-led initiatives.
For each of these models, strengths and weaknesses were identified and analysed, with a view to migrant workers’ specific vulnerabilities and the challenges faced when accessing remedy in destination countries.
Recommendations for all stakeholders, as well as specifically for companies, states, trade unions, civil society, and trade associations were included to signpost practical steps that can be undertaken.