Introduction

The protection of migrant workers raises profound challenges for the role and efficacy of international labour law in the era of globalization. It is easy to be sceptical about future developments. The process of globalization has arguably widened the income gap between the traditional migrant receiving and sending countries, and the demand for cheap labour in the context of increasing and intense pressures to reduce labour costs threatens the continuation of an established international regime protecting the employment and human rights of migrant workers. The richer countries appear to hold all the cards in this process with the result that poorer countries have nominal bargaining power regarding the treatment of their workers abroad. Moreover, the standards adopted by the ILO and the UN to provide for migrant workers remain poorly ratified and inadequately implemented and the prospects for numerous further ratifications appear rather slim despite the considerable efforts undertaken to promote these standards, especially by civil society. Official resources for the promotion of the ratification of these instruments have also been lacking, a position often attributable to a perceived collusion among major receiving countries as well as between competent authorities in sending countries and private recruitment agencies not to further the issue of the protection of migrant workers.