The Asia Foundation (the Foundation) has been working on issues related to labour for the last decade. While much of the Foundation’s past work focused on addressing labour migration from the economic governance lens; in the past few years, TAF focused on addressing issues related to the rights of migrant workers and the challenges related to labour exploitation in the context of both regular and irregular labor migration. Much of the Foundation’s work on human trafficking is also addressing the links between labor migration and human trafficking. Recently, the Foundation partnered with three reputed local research institutions in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal to undertake a regional research entitled “Labour Migration: Trends and Practices” which examined the patterns and process of labor migration by Nepali and Bangladeshi migrant workers using informal and irregular channels for migration and its links. The research explored the dimensions of both regular and irregular labour migration and reviewed the links, if any, with labour exploitation and human trafficking. The research also examined the factors promoting undocumented migration, formal/ informal linkages, if any, between agents and recruitment agencies, vulnerability of the migrants, and strengthened accountability systems and mechanisms to ensure informed and empowered labor migration.
URL : 120617122330.pdf