Bilateral labor agreements as migration governance tools: An analysis from a gender lens

Abstract

This Article discusses BLAs as tools of global labor migration governance, with a specific focus on gender. Drawing on our global database of 582 bilateral labor migration agreements (BLAs), we investigate the extent to which these governing instruments connect and align with relevant international normative frameworks, in particular the extent to which they represent gains, gaps or gaffs in terms of gender equality and the human and labor rights protection of women migrants. In the context of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), which stresses a gender-responsive approach to migration governance as one of its guiding principles, we ask: Do the BLAs which are increasingly being used as instruments to govern labor migration contribute toward sustainable gender equality, decent work and reduced inequalities for women and gender-diverse migrants?

Analysing transnational labour mobility regimes

“…For instance, rising numbers of private sector recruitment intermediaries increasingly mediate cross-border mobility and migrants' working conditions, sometimes subsumed within the auspices of formal state-to-state bilateral labour agreements (Goh et al, 2017;Jones et al, 2022). These processes are also intensely racialised and gendered, entailing the systematic recruitment of marginalised and disadvantaged populations whose rights are readily suppressed by virtue of their precarious footing in a labour market where, as low-wage workers, they are easily replaced (Piper et al, 2017;Jones, 2021;Hennebry et al, 2022).…”

Sex- and gender-based differences in the migration process: a systematic literature review

“…Unfortunately, the availability of harmonized aggregated migration data is scarce. Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on the importance of collecting sex-disaggregated data to better understand vulnerabilities, mobilities, and gender-specific outcomes, and to inform genderresponsive policy-making (Kofman, 2019;Christou & Kofman, 2022;Hennebry, KC, & Williams, 2021). Multiple studies, including those by Morokvasic (1984); Donato and Gabaccia (2015); Zlotnik (1995), have contributed to this focus on female migrants, while a separate body of literature has emerged that examines and compares the migration patterns of both female and male migrants.…”

“…There exist four major data sources on sex and international migration at the global level (Hennebry et al, 2021). Namely, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' (UN DESA) estimates of international migration stocks for the years 1990 -2019, the Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative providing information on human trafficking cases from the 2000s to 2020, the International Labor Organization's statistics on international migrant workers for the years 1991 -2018, and lastly, the Refugee Data Finder containing estimates of refugees, asylum seekers, other displaced populations from 1951 -2019 (Hennebry et al, 2021). Besides that, there exists the OECD databank on immigrant populations and international migration flows for the 28 member countries of OECD.…”

Entrapment processes in the emigration regime: The presence of migration bans and the absence of bilateral labor agreements in domestic work in Nepal

“…Hence, while the presence of migration bans is predicated on the fear of irregular mobility and exploitation, in juxtaposition with the absence of BLAs, it provides legitimacy for the migration bans. Politicians, policymakers, placement agents, media houses, and NGO personnel, including some scholars, 63 consider the requirement for BLAs in domestic work as the most effective solution to address the exploitation of Nepalese female citizens in the international labor markets. 64 The proponents of BLAs often justify their arguments with the only example of a BLA in domestic work, signed between Nepal and Jordan in 2017.…”