Launching the Migrants Resource Center.
COTU (K) launched a Migrant Resource Centre, yesterday, with the support of the ILO. The Centre will generate and update labour market information and, second, measure and analyze migrant data which will be used as an advocacy tool to raise awareness of migration workers’ rights.
The Centre will also be used to disseminate all this data to all our solidarity and social partners through online campaigns and other methods as may be relevant. The resource center will attend to walk-in migrant workers seeking information on labour migration.
COTU (K) invites all Kenyans who are seeking information on Labour Migration to visit our offices for guidance and direction. We will also continue working together with the government of the day to promote fair labour practices for migrant workers.
As of now, COTU (K) would like to:
1. Call on the Kenyan government to focus on bilateral agreements that are between government to governments as opposed to the use of recruitment agencies that act as facilitators of modern-day slavery.
2. Call on the government to focus on skills development and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and enhance the capacities of training institutions like NITA to promote RPL so as to bring into the mainstream many Kenyans with skills but no certification. We laud the initiative by NITA to pilot the certification of RPL and call upo the government to look at this pilot to promote the role of NITA in the certification process.
3. Call on the government to make issues Labour Migration a preserve of the Ministry of Labour as opposed to the National Employment Authority (NEA) which goes against the established International Labour practices.
