Sri Lanka is all set to host regional policy dialog forum on migration in collaboration with International Organization for Migration Sri Lanka.
The Colombo Process (CP), a state-led information-sharing and policy dialog forum bringing together 12 labour-sending countries from Asia is all set to host 3 Thematic Area Working Groups (TAWGs) from 12th to 14th December 2023 in Colombo, under the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Colombo Process is aregional consultative process supporting its members to manage labor migration in a safe, orderly, and dignified way for the benefit of individual migrants, their families and wider society, allowing collaboration, knowledge exchange and the development of new policies and practices for implementation at the national level. The CP celebrates its 20th anniversary of its foundation here in Sri Lanka this year.
The event will include a combined meeting of three TAWGs: Skills and Qualifications Recognition (S & Q); the Cheaper Faster and Safer Transfer of Remittances (Remittances) and Fair and Ethical Recruitment Practices (FERP) and will allow reflection on the synergies between the three thematic areas and provide an opportunity to share best practices between the Colombo Process member states and observers, including Non-State Actors.
The 3 TAWGs are chaired by the Governments of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The third day of the conference will see respectively with a Reintegration Knowledge Forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities of supporting the sustainable reintegration of migrant workers from the Colombo Process Member States who are returning home following employment overseas.
The event will see the launch of a “Regional Manual on Reintegration for South Asian Migrant Workers” which provides guidance on best practices and methods of implementation for sustainable solutions that are inclusive and gender-responsive to the reintegration of returning migrant workers. This Manual is being piloted in Sri Lanka by IOM with the support of the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
Representatives from eleven active Colombo Process Member States (CPMS) will participate in the event plus observers from civil society, the private sector, trade unions, academia, SDC, the UN agencies implementing the GOALS Programme and other development partners.
The event is supported by the Governance of Labour Migration in South and South-East Asia (GOALS) Programme, a joint regional labor migration programme implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The work of the Colombo Process supports Sri Lanka’s work to encourage regular international labor migration and the implementation of the Ministry’s new National Policy and Action Plan on Migration for Employment.
