Bridging Borders: ILO Launches New Phase of FAIRWAY to Safeguard African Migrant Workers in the Arab States
Written By Maxine Ansah
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KUWAIT CITY, 2 May 2025 – With migration continuing to shape the labour landscape between Africa and the Arab States, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has launched the second phase of its interregional FAIRWAY Programme (2024 2028). This bold initiative aims to strengthen protections and improve working conditions for African migrant workers across key sectors such as domestic care and construction two industries where rights violations are common, and oversight often lags behind.
Announced in Kuwait City, the expansion of FAIRWAY represents a deepening of efforts to address long-standing decent work deficits that disproportionately affect African migrant workers, many of whom are women. According to the ILO, migrant workers accounted for 37.2% of the labour force in the Arab States in 2022, a significant share that underscores both the economic importance and the vulnerability of this demographic.
From Migration to Margins
Labour migration from Africa to the Arab States has grown steadily, driven by a complex mix of economic hardship, demographic pressures, and increasingly, climate-related displacement. Yet, while this mobility can offer crucial income and economic opportunity, it is often marred by exploitative recruitment practices, limited legal protections, and gender-based discrimination.
In response, the ILO’s FAIRWAY Programme first launched in 2018 was designed as a corridor-based initiative to improve labour migration governance along the Africa-Arab States route. The new four-year phase, co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), builds on earlier gains and intensifies its focus on rights-based governance and gender equity, with a particular lens on sectors where African migrant workers are most vulnerable.
“Enhancing inter-regional dialogue and promoting collective action through an evidence-based approach is essential to ensure better protection for migrant workers,” said Coffi Agossou, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Africa. “But we need active engagement from all actors governments, employers, civil society, and the workers themselves.”
Regional Voices, Shared Responsibilities
The launch event drew high-level voices from both regions. Patricia Barandun, Head of Migration and Forced Displacement at SDC, emphasized the dual nature of labour migration between Africa and the Arab States as both a “channel of opportunity” and a site of complex governance challenges.
“The emphasis on rights-based governance, decent work and gender equality, with a special focus on workers in the most vulnerable situations, is a priority,” Barandun said.
Leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also acknowledged their responsibility. Jasim Alhamrani, Director of Strategic Planning and Communication at the GCC Executive Bureau, pointed to progress in access to justice and wage protection for migrant workers. He noted that Phase II of FAIRWAY must now move upstream by addressing the recruitment process in countries of origin, where many of the exploitative practices begin.
On the Arab States side, Peter Rademaker, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Arab States, highlighted that while steps forward have been made, a cohesive, collaborative approach is still needed to drive systemic change.
“FAIRWAY has the potential to move things forward through a corridor approach,” Rademaker said, “reflected in a joint partnership between the regions.”
Women at the Heart of the Agenda
A defining feature of FAIRWAY Phase II is its gender-transformative agenda. African women working in care and domestic sectors face unique vulnerabilities, often working in isolation and with few legal safeguards. The programme aims to improve decent work outcomes for women migrant workers, not just by addressing labour conditions, but by challenging gender norms that underpin exploitation.
The programme will roll out across strategic origin and destination countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda in Africa, and Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Lebanon in the Arab States. Activities will focus on:
- Strengthening regional and interregional policy dialogue
- Improving protections and services for migrant workers
- Promoting worker representation and rights advocacy
Beyond Compliance: A Call for Collective Action
FAIRWAY Phase II arrives at a moment when labour mobility is both a necessity and a vulnerability. For sending countries, the outflow of workers offers economic lifelines. For receiving nations, it fills critical labour shortages. But unless migration is governed by equity, dignity, and justice, this win-win proposition becomes a zero-sum game.
The ILO’s initiative is not just about compliance it’s about rebalancing a deeply uneven playing field. It’s a call for transnational solidarity, where the protection of workers’ rights transcends borders.
