The Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) is organising a panel discussion on the sidelines of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) on sustainable development.

Themed “Migration Governance in the GCC: Towards Inclusive, Safe and Resilient Societies”, the panel discussion will be held in partnership with the Philippine government, and in cooperation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), on July 16 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The event will bring together representatives of Bahrain, the Philippines, IOM and MFA, and will examine the latest reforms of expatriate workers in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), with a special focus on Bahrain’s experience as one of the most successful international practices, and how these reforms would contribute to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The forum will feature a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority and Chairman of the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Ausamah bin Abdulla Al-Absi, who will highlight Bahrain’s experience in designing, implementing and evaluating the migration management reforms.

Then, Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Sarah Lou Y. Arriola, will speak on behalf of worker-sending countries. She will shed light on the reality of migration in GCC countries, including the recent reforms in Bahrain, and ways to complement efforts and address gaps towards achieving SDGs.

Michele Klein-Solomon, Senior Policy Adviser to the Director General of IOM, will review the international best practices of migration management and linkages to SDGs.

MFA’s Executive Director, William Gois, will present the perspective of non-governmental organisations focusing on migrant workers.

The presentations will be followed by an open group discussion that will focus on the main challenges that deterred the migration management reforms in Bahrain from taking place before, and how the reforms are linked to SDGs.

Discussions will also focus on the benefits of the sponsorless labour migration schemes, the envisioned key challenges to be faced by employers, employees and governments with the current reforms.

The measures taken to ensure that migrant workers are protected under the transition period, and the procedures adopted by Bahrain to evaluate the impact of the current reforms will also be discussed.