The Department of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the protection of the rights of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan engaged in temporary employment abroad and international economic cooperation, in cooperation with the Ministry of employment and labor relations, the International organization for migration (IOM) and the International labor organization (ILO) held an international videoconference on the theme: “Improving the institution of private employment agencies: national and international experience”.

The event featured presentations on such topics as the role of private employment agencies in international labor migration, the practice of foreign countries in organizing their activities, problems of regulating their activities within the framework of legislation and ways to solve them, introduction to activities within the framework of international labor migration, ethical rules for selection and employment, the role of international legislation in the development of migration policy.

It was noted that urgent measures should be taken to eliminate serious problems arising from the spread of coronavirus infection, both in all spheres and in labor migration, and to ensure safe, orderly and targeted employment of the population at home and abroad.

International experts who participated in the webinar shared their thoughts on labor migration:

Michael Newson, chief specialist on labour migration and human resource development, representative of the ILO regional office for South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Austria):

A migrant worker benefits not only his family, Homeland, but also the state in which he works. After the current crisis, there is a shortage of specialists at large foreign employers, especially in the field of agriculture, which seriously affects the socio-economic life of people. Even a year after the pandemic, the situation may not return to its previous state. Therefore, during and after the crisis, it will be necessary to jointly manage the situation related to labor migration. In order to manage the flow of labor migration, it is necessary to determine the directions and tasks that must be fulfilled by employment agencies, employers and state cooperation.

After the crisis, the demand for employment Agencies and their recruitment process will increase. This also increases the risk of some of them abusing their responsibilities when hiring people. To effectively manage the situation in these conditions, it is necessary to properly organize the work on sending migrants, especially to check their health. In this direction, an agreement should be reached between the receiving and sending States of migrants and employment agencies, ensuring high-quality organization of work.

Another important aspect is that in order to create safe and acceptable conditions for migrant workers, first of all, employment agencies must better understand the industries in which migrant workers are involved.

Pavel Shalus, IRIS program manager, representative of IOM headquarters (Switzerland):

- The standards of the international system of fair employment of foreign labor (IRIS) are adopted by government agencies, employers and employment agencies in many countries and are based on the main norms of the UN and ILO conventions, as well as cover all international practices of employment and labor migration.

In particular, when attracting employees, the principles of legality, openness and protection of rights must be observed. Also, in accordance with accepted international standards, the use of migrant workers must comply with such principles as the prevention of forced and child labor, mutual voluntary consent of the employer and the migrant worker, the prevention of forced payments, that is, payment for employment abroad must be made only by the employer, the migrant worker must be free during off-hours, working conditions must be clear, personal information is not disclosed by employment agencies and employers.

For example, large companies that have achieved a world-famous trademark adhere to the principle of "employer pays".

However, despite the fact that our country has introduced the institution of private employment agencies, there are no strict rules for paying for services provided by them, some agencies have noted cases of abuse of trust of citizens, fraud. This, in turn, shows the need to introduce the activities of newly created private employment agencies in Uzbekistan, analyzing the experience and problems of legislation of States that have achieved positive success in this area today.

Mikhail Pouchkin, chief specialist of the ILO on employment issues (Russia):

– The current version of the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan”On private employment agencies " does not fully reflect the provisions of ILO Convention No. 181. The amendments and additions to the law are based on the recommendations and conventions of the ILO and comply with international standards and are important for the development of the country's economy.

Today, the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic affects all States, regardless of the level of economic development. This, of course, deals a big blow to labor migration, as in all areas.

It should be recognized that in recent years, the government of Uzbekistan has held many negotiations and is achieving fruitful results in the field of external labor migration with a number of States, in particular with the Russian Federation. Russia is currently developing a new migration strategy. If the practice of selecting labor migrants from Uzbekistan who go to work abroad is introduced, the problems faced by employment agencies and migrants will be reduced.

At the conference, representatives of private employment agencies also expressed their views on further improving the sphere and received answers from experts to their questions.

At the end of the conference, the participants presented their proposals for solving problems in the field of labor migration and further improving the activities of private employment agencies.