IOM Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance - EU Statement - Item 3(ii) Labour Mobility

Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States 

International Organisation for Migration

39^th Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance

29-30 October 2026

________

Item 3(ii)

Labour Mobility

________

Geneva, 30 October 2026

- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY -

International Organisation for Migration 

39^th Session of the Standing Committee on Programmes and Finance

29-30 October 2026

Item 3(ii) – Labour Mobility

Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States 

Chair,

1. The European Union and its Member States thank IOM for its paper on financing labour mobility. We recognise that access to adequate and sustainable financing is an important factor in enhancing and diversifying the availability of regular pathways for labour migration.

2. Such pathways are an important component of our comprehensive approach to migration. We support well-managed, human rights-based labour migration and regular pathways that promote decent work and respond to identified labour market and skills needs, while creating opportunities for regular migrant workers, protecting their human and labour rights and contributing to sustainable development in countries of origin and destination. Such pathways should be mutually beneficial partnerships, in accordance with national competences and applicable international labour standards.

3. Through Talent Partnerships and various EU- and Member State-funded initiatives, for example THAMM Plus, TVET programmes, labour mobility projects and circular migration initiatives, national programming funded by the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund, and others, we are already supporting skills development, institutional cooperation, fair recruitment and labour mobility. We are also developing new instruments to facilitate international recruitment and skills matching, including the EU Talent Pool and the first European Legal Gateway Office pilot in India in the ICT sector.

4. We agree with IOM that sustainable labour mobility requires moving beyond individual projects towards more coordinated and strategic initiatives and investments across the entire mobility pathway. This includes skills development, recognition of qualifications, fair recruitment, access to decent work and integration, as well as strengthening labour market institutions in countries of origin and destination.

5. We believe that sustainable financing requires greater involvement of the private sector, particularly employers, who directly benefit from labour mobility. Existing EU and Member State-supported initiatives provide valuable experience on the respective contributions of public authorities, employers and development partners across the labour mobility pathway. We also see potential for multilateral development banks, other financial institutions and philanthropic actors to help mobilise additional resources. Public and development funding should be used strategically to address financing gaps, strengthen institutional capacities and ensure development benefits for countries of origin, including by mitigating risks of brain drain and promoting skills development and skills circulation.

6. At the same time, innovative financing arrangements must be firmly grounded in international labour standards and fair recruitment principles. We particularly underline the need to prevent excessive indebtedness, debt bondage and other forms of exploitation, while ensuring appropriate safeguards for financing arrangements that envisage repayment through migrants' future earnings. Such arrangements should be subject to transparency, effective oversight and accessible grievance and remedy mechanisms.

7. We also encourage IOM to work closely with the ILO, drawing on its expertise in international labour standards, decent work, fair recruitment, social dialogue, skills development, labour-market needs assessment and anticipation, and strengthening labour market institutions, as well as its tripartite structure, to ensure the meaningful involvement of employers' and workers' organisations in developing sustainable labour mobility financing approaches.

8. Against this background, we would welcome IOM's views on two questions.

9. First, how does IOM envisage drawing on the experience of existing labour mobility partnerships, including EU- and Member State-supported programmes, to identify financing models that are genuinely sustainable and scalable?

10. Second, as IOM develops innovative financing mechanisms, how will it translate fair recruitment principles into concrete safeguards, particularly for arrangements involving repayment through future earnings?

11. We look forward to continued cooperation with IOM on this important agenda.

Thank you.