Colombo, 29 September, 2015 - SARTUC organised a two-day regional conference on ‘setting minimum standard for migration and formalisation of informal economy in South Asia’.

SARTUC has identified five priority issues from its Executive Board meeting in 2013 Kathmandu, which are – gender, informal economy, labour migration, social security and getting on-board SAARC. Along this line, SARTUC organised this two-day regional conference to discuss and plan for way forward on migration and informal economy.

First day of the conference, focused on identifying the minimum standards for a labour migration from South Asia; developing a model standard employment contract for the region; and SARTUC’s position on migration.

Through much deliberation, the participants, trade union leaders and representatives of international organizations working on migration issue, were able to draft a set of minimum standards and develop a model employment standard contract.

The issue of informal economy was on the agenda for the second day of the conference, where issues, challenges and approaches for formalising informal economy was discussed.

The conference further developed ‘Colombo recommendation on migration 2015’ and ‘Colombo recommendation on formalising informal economy 2015’. The recommendations will be presented to the executive board meeting for its endorsement on 30 September 2015 in Colombo.

Mr Laxman Basnet, SARTUC General Secretary, welcomed the achievements of the conference. He appreciated the participation of trade union leaders from the region and representatives from international organizations and thanked them for their contribution to the outputs of the conference.