The Minister of Gender Labour and Social Development Hon. Frank Tumwebaze has addressed the country about the Regional Ministerial Forum on Harmonizing Labour Migration Policies in the East Africa and Horn of Africa he attended in Nairobi, Kenya from the 20th – 21st January 2020.
Speaking during the press conference held at the Media Center in Kampala, Tumwebaze said that they discussed strategies of promoting and protecting the rights of African Migrant workers abroad.
“It is my pleasure to address you this morning on the Regional Ministerial Forum on Harmonizing Labour Migration Policies in the East Africa and Horn of Africa that I attended in Nairobi, Kenya from the 20th – 21st January 2020.” Tumwebaze said that the objectives of the forum were:-
To discuss a harmonized regional strategy on negotiation of Bilateral Labour Agreements with the European Union and Gulf Cooperation Countries.
To enhance the knowledge and skills of Government, Stakeholders on the establishment of effective mechanisms of preparing migrant workers for employment abroad.
To share information on the trends, priorities, needs and interests of member states in order to foster safe and orderly labour mobility within Africa;
To cooperate in strengthening the capacity of labour migration management institutions. To promote regional cooperation in combating trafficking in persons.
The key recommendations of the forum were:- The member countries should revise their laws to facilitate portability of social security benefits to include migrants’ workers;
The forum was also attended by Ministers responsible for labour migration from Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
