This was reported by Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine Natalia Ivanova at an extended meeting of the Ministry of Labor's commission on licensing of intermediation in employment abroad and granting permits to foreigners for employment in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Coordination Committee for Promoting Employment.
“Today, labor migrations are a component of our labor market, and the fight against illegal migration and human trafficking is an urgent task for the government,” Natalia Ivanova emphasized. “After all, migration processes will continue to develop — this is an axiom of the global world, an axiom of the market economy. Every person has the right to choose in which country and as whom to work. However, when this legitimate right becomes a reason for various fraudsters to profit, when it becomes a cause for committing crimes such as human trafficking, the state cannot fail to take preventive measures. In the seventh annual report of the US Department of State on human trafficking, unfortunately, the activities of the Ukrainian government in this area were deemed insufficiently effective. Today's meeting includes, in addition to members of the commission and the Ukrainian Coordination Committee for Promoting Employment, representatives of law enforcement agencies, public organizations, trade union associations, and foreign experts with the sole purpose of uniting their efforts and developing a common course of action to overcome the negative consequences of illegal labor migration.”
And the consequences can indeed be serious: Ukraine loses its labor potential (which poses a threat to national security), employers lose skilled labor, and the illegal labor migrant endangers their life. Therefore, according to Ministry of Labor experts, a policy of return migration should be more actively applied in our country. That is, a policy of returning people to Ukraine after a temporary stay abroad. This will be facilitated by the growth of wages and incomes in general, the development of social dialogue, a reduction in unemployment, and an increase in employment levels. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is persistently working in this direction within its powers.
And what is being done today to protect those who are not yet satisfied with the domestic labor market and who have decided nevertheless to become labor migrants? According to the deputy minister, Ukraine is already a party to 12 bilateral agreements on employment of citizens — with the governments of the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Lithuania, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Latvia, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Moldova, the Portuguese Republic, the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Work is ongoing to conclude international treaties with Georgia — on employment, with the Italian Republic — on mutual employment of citizens and their social protection, and with Spain — on regulating and streamlining labor migration flows between the two states.
In addition, the state actively regulates labor migration through the development of the institution of licensing of intermediary activities for employment abroad. As of November 1, 2007, 593 business entities have been registered in Ukraine that have been issued the relevant license from the Ministry of Labor. In the first half of 2007, 35.9 thousand people already used their services. It should be noted that the Ministry of Labor's commission on licensing of intermediation in employment abroad and granting permits to foreigners for employment in Ukraine constantly checks licensees. During 2006 and 10 months of the current year, 399 inspections were carried out, as a result of which 78 licenses were annulled and 69 were declared invalid, and 141 orders were issued to business entities to eliminate violations within a set period.
“I want to emphasize that through intermediary structures for employment abroad, Ukrainian citizens get the opportunity to have legal work outside the country and reliable social protection from a foreign employer who regulates their rights to employ Ukrainian citizens within the framework of the legislation of the country of employment. But one of the main tasks of Ukraine at the same time remains the creation of a capacious, mobile and modern domestic labor market so that people are not forced to seek happiness elsewhere. After all, the attractiveness of the labor market is one of the most significant factors in regulating labor migration, as it is directly related to the formation of the causes of the hypertrophy of migration processes,” the deputy minister stressed.
After hearing and discussing the issues of labor migration in Ukraine and the functioning of the system of intermediation in employment abroad, as well as the materials of the seventh annual report of the US Department of State on human trafficking, the commission of the Ministry of Labor and the Ukrainian Coordination Committee for Promoting Employment identified ways for further action by both the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy of Ukraine and other central and local executive authorities in close cooperation with public organizations, social partners, and foreign diplomatic missions in Ukraine. In particular, as reported by the press service of the relevant ministry, the information posted on the websites of the Ministry of Labor and the State Employment Service will be expanded to clarify the norms of legislation on labor migration, including licensing of intermediation in employment abroad and establishing feedback on the work of licensees.