By The International Labour Organization (ILO)

X Executive summary Access to labour justice is out of reach for most migrant workers who experience human and labour rights violations. The intersection of a migrant worker’s immigration status with their employment causes heightened vulnerability and an increased likelihood that a migrant worker will not be able to seek or obtain justice for the labour violations they have suffered. This can happen because of formal exclusion from labour protection or practical difficulties in accessing labour complaints mechanisms. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has long recognized the fundamental role that access to labour justice plays in protecting the rights of workers, including migrant workers. Access to labour justice is a key principle in many international labour standards, notably those on migrant workers. Furthermore, access to justice is embedded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights treaties and is recognized by the United Nations as integral to the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including economic growth and the commitment to leave no one behind. The difficulties that migrant workers experience in accessing justice in the country of employment, including the impossibility for workers to remain in the country of employment to pursue complaints upon leaving an abusive employer, have led to increased attention on cross-border or transnational access to justice for migrant workers. In the context of this report, cross-border or transnational access to justice includes a worker’s ability to file a claim or continue with a claim in the country of employment after a worker has left (either back to their country of origin or to a third country) or to file a claim in the country of origin (for example, against the recruitment agency) for violations that have occurred or are occurring in the country of employment. Trade unions, civil society organizations and lawyers are currently assisting migrant workers with cross-border claims on an ad-hoc basis. In addition to this ad-hoc support, transnational organizations with a presence in more than one country and with a specific mandate to support migrant workers, lodge cross-border claims, operate in several migration corridors. These organizations have developed innovative models to provide legal representation and assistance to migrant workers through partnerships in the country of origin and country of employment. They have also conducted strategic litigation in response to the legal and procedural issues that prevent migrant workers from seeking justice from abroad, including by launching test cases to expand and leverage.

Geneva: ILO, 2024. 74p.