This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Discrimination among reasons why migrants earn 13 per cent less than locals: ILO
If you’re a migrant, chances are that your pay packet is considerably smaller than other people’s, where you work.
That’s the finding of a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which has found that the wage gap between migrants and national workers is 13 per cent – and growing.
The wage gap was highest in Cyprus, at 42 per cent, with Italy at 30 per cent and Austria at 25 per cent. For the European Union it was less than the global average, at under nine per cent.
The gap may even widen further because of the COVID-19 crisis, ILO said on Monday, based on data from 49 countries that host half the world’s migrant workers.
The wage discrepancy can be explained in part by differences in education, skills and experience.
But discrimination is the main reason why migrants earn less, said ILO’s Michelle Leighton, chief of ILO’s Labour Migration Branch.
“Tackling discrimination and prejudices that are deeply entrenched in the workplace and our society is more important than ever. And addressing the migrant pay gap is not only a matter of social justice, but it's also important to reduce inequalities between women and men to reduce income inequalities between households.”
Women migrants face a double dose of wage discrimination, ILO warned, as they often work in domestic or caregiver settings, earning less than nationals and less than male migrants, on average.
Alert for West and Central African migrant rescue as funding dries up: IOM
Thousands of migrants from West and Central Africa are at risk as critical funding dries up for lifesaving humanitarian work, the UN migration agency IOM warned on Monday.
In an appeal for $100 million to replace European Union assistance, IOM said that it still needs to help vulnerable migrants from West and Central Africa who continue to cross the continent in search of work or shelter.
The joint EU-IOM initiative has helped more than 100,000 people; these include many held in detention centres, and others stranded and “left for dead” in the desert, often by human traffickers.
“The imminent end of this life-saving programme, and the funding shortfall, raise deep concerns about the fates of tens of thousands of vulnerable men, women and children”, said IOM Director General António Vitorino.
Launched in December 2016, the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration involves 26 African countries of the Sahel and Lake Chad region, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa.
Its goal is to ensure that migration is safer, more informed and better governed for both migrants, their communities, and host countries.
At least 77,000 West and Central African nationals have been assisted with voluntary return home. This includes economic support, counselling, mental health and psychosocial support, to help them rebuild their lives.
Glimmer of hope for recovering Mediterranean fish stocks: FAO
The overexploitation of vital fish stocks in the Black Sea and Mediterranean region has slowed significantly in recent years, the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday.
Although 75 per cent of fish stocks were overfished in 2018, this percentage fell by more than 10 per cent in the preceding four years, the UN agency said, citing new data.
Species that have seen their numbers grow, include so-called priority stocks such as the European hake in the Mediterranean and Black Sea turbot.
Abdellah Srour, head of the FAO’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, said that “positive signals” were finally emerging in the sector for the first time.
But he said that a lot more work still needed to be done before the region's fisheries were on a sustainable footing, even if “some of the most worrying trends" had been reversed.
Globally, the proportion of biologically sustainable fish stocks slid from more than 90 per cent of fish stocks to less than two-thirds in 2017.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
