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[Work Plan]
Department of Social Development and Employment (SEDI)
1. Activities Assigned:
Pursuant to the recommendations received at its first annual
meeting, held on March 16, 2006, the Program included the
Department of Social Development and Employment as an
implementer of the Program (in the Organs, Agencies, and
Entities of the OAS category) and assigned it the following
three specific activities:
• Establishment of an Inter-American Network for Labor
Administration (RIAL), conceived as an integral mechanism
that shares knowledge and relevant experiences for the
strengthening and modernization of labor administration
vis-à-vis the challenges of globalization
• Organize workshops on the labor rights of migrant workers
in the framework of RIAL.
• Serve as a link between the Migrants Program and the
Ministries of Labor in the Hemisphere meeting at the
Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (IACML) of
the OAS, whose technical secretariat is the DSDE.
2. Activities Carried Out
• The DSDE has initiated the first phase of RIAL 2006-2007,
after applying for and ensuring financing for it from the
Ministry of Labour of Canada. Three exchange activities took
place with RIAL during 2006, the third of which is worth
underscoring:
• Second Hemispheric Workshop on Occupational Health and
Security – San Salvador, El Salvador, March 16 and 17, 2006,
hosted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of El
Salvador.
• Seminar on Labor Intermediation and Labor Observatories –
Morelos, Mexico, November 7, 2006, hosted by the Secretariat
of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico (Chair pro tempore of
the XIV IACML)
• Workshop “Migrant workers: Protection of labor rights and
labor market programs” – Ottawa, Canada, November 28-29,
2006, hosted by the Labour Program of Human Resources and
Social Development Canada.
• The Workshop on Migrant Workers was coordinated by the
DSDE. Participants included representatives of the Labor
Ministries and other government institutions of 28 member
states, representatives of international organizations, such
as the International Labour Organization (ILO), and several
observers. One notable participant was Commissioner Freddy
Gutiérrez, Special Rapporteur for Migrant Workers and Their
Families of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
During the Workshop, participants exchanged experiences and
sound practices for the promotion of the labor rights of
migrant workers, as well as specific bilateral programs and
agreements aimed at achieving orderly management of
migration flows. The specific experiences analyzed included
programs and agreements of Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United
States, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and
Trinidad and Tobago. The DSDE has prepared a web page on the
Workshop, containing all the information regarding it,
including the names of participants, remarks, presentations,
papers, and summaries: www.sedi.oas.org/ddse/migrantes.
Among the major issues highlighted by the workshop are, in
particular, the need to achieve orderly and transparent
management of labor migration; the importance of bilateral
or multilateral social security agreements permitting
pension transfers; the need for legal, political, and
ethical consistency in migration management; the importance
of remittances; dissemination and communication strategies
for informing migrant workers of their rights; the
imperative need for cooperation between countries sending
migrants and those receiving them; the coordination, legal
enforcement, inspection, and surveillance functions of labor
ministries in the management of the migration process; as
well as others.
• With respect to linkage between the Migrants Program and
the IACML, the DSDE presented the Program to representatives
of the Labor Ministries of the Hemisphere during the meeting
of the Working Groups of the OAS’s IACML, held on April 4-6,
2006, in Mexico City. It also invited the Committee on
Juridical and Political Affairs and the Secretariat for Legal Affairs (SLA) to the Workshop on Migrant
Workers, held in November 2006, in Ottawa, Canada, and it
kept them abreast of developments. Special mention must
again be made of the participation of the IACHR’s Special
Rapporteur for Migrant Workers and Their Families in this
workshop.
3. Activities Being Planned
• In the RIAL framework, activities will be arranged to
analyze and share experiences regarding a number of priority
issues for the IACML. The following workshops are to be held
in 2007: 1) Social protection; 2) Technical Assistance; and
3) Labor Dimensions of Free Trade Agreements and Regional
Integration Processes.
• The XV IACML will take place in September, 2006 in
Trinidad and Tobago. Its Declaration and Plan of Action will
take into consideration the conclusions of the RIAL
workshops, including the Workshop on the Labor Rights of
Migrant Workers, held in November 2006, in Ottawa, Canada.
The XV IACML will also establish new priority areas for INLA/REAL.
• The DSDE will continue to forge links between the Migrants
Program and the IACML through presentations to the IACML
Working Groups.
4. Calendar
• RIAL Workshops:
o Social Protection – March or April 2007
o Technical Assistance – May 2007
o Labor Dimensions of Free Trade Agreements and Regional
Integration Processes – July 2007
• Meetings of the Working Groups of the IACML: May 2007 and
during the first semester of subsequent years.
• XV IACML – September 2007
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