Social Protection for Migrants

Migrants and forcibly displaced persons are widely excluded from social protection systems or receive less favourable treatment based on their nationality, their status and sector of work. They may face loss of coverage when moving to another country, or do not qualify for benefits such as in access to health care, work injury benefits, unemployment insurance, maternity protection and end of service indemnities.

Exclusion from social protection is not only a violation of human rights it also decreases resilience of migrants and their families to shocks and work transitions. Unprotected migrant workers are more likely to be living in poverty and less likely to send remittances.

SDC's Engagement

The SDC engages in policy reforms in countries of origins and destination to make the public social protection schemes more inclusive and accessible for migrants and forcibly displaced persons. In countries of origin, it also supports unilateral measures, such as «welfare funds» created to extend social protection measures to overseas workers.

Programs also address hurdles to effective social protection access through information and referral systems to social protection, as well as legal assistance and grievance handling.

The SDC also promotes digital solutions with the private sector to support the cross-border collection of contributions, as well as the claims and payment of schemes.

Documents

Links

• Social Protection for Migrants at ILO
• ILO - Social protection for migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: A regional mapping of provisions on paper and in practice (2023)
• ILO - Migrants Access to Social Protection under Bilateral Labour Agreements (2017)
• IOM - Social Protection of Migrants Publication (2024)
• IOM - Social Protection: An Operational Tool for the Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus (2022)