Document Details

The focal point of this study is the legal rules which govern international labour migration. It attempts to explore and critically analyse the relationships between international labour migration as an economic phenomenon and the legal norms which affect and influence this process. Firstly, it underlines the importance of the legal thinking in providing adequate protection to migrant workers and members of their families. Secondly, it argues for establishing an international legal framework to regulate and harmonize the national immigration policies of States. Chapter Two examines the economics of international labour migration, the economic function and the social status of migrant labour in the receiving States. The focus is on the post Second World War migratory flow to France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. Chapter Three analyses the national laws of the receiving States. It concentrates on the issues of residence, work permit systems, family reunification and the social security systems of the receiving States. Chapter Four is concerned with the international recruitment agreements which have been concluded after the Second World War period and registered with the UN Secretariat. The provisions of these treaties are compared with the provisions of investment treaties which have also been concluded between the same parties, and with the ILO model agreement on temporary migration for employment. Chapter Five explores the relations between the existing international human rights instruments and the immigration laws of the selected States and the adequacy and the capacity of these instruments in protecting migrant workers.