Strategy to Address the Root Causes of Migration in Central America (RCS):
The Root Causes Strategy includes numerous references to labor rights and decent work across each of the five pillars components of the RCS: (I) addressing economic insecurity and inequality; (II) combatting corruption, strengthening democratic governance, and advancing the rule of law; (III) promoting respect for human rights, labor rights, and a free press; (IV) countering and preventing violence, extortion, and other crimes perpetrated by criminal gangs, trafficking networks, and other organized criminal organizations; and (V) combating sexual, gender-based, and domestic violence. Some key areas where ILAB brings a unique value to USG efforts to implement the strategy include:
- Pillar I: Leveraging in-house labor expertise as the international arm of the USG and experience in promoting decent work to maximize the impact of ILAB and other USG programming. This includes programs that combat child and forced labor and increase access to quality education and economic opportunities for women, youth, and marginalized populations.
- Pillar II: Ensuring that Labor Ministries are included in USG efforts to improve public administration, combat corruption and implement the CAFTA-DR obligation to “effectively enforce labor laws” and promote rules and principles for a just society more broadly.
- Pillar III: Amplifying current efforts to strengthen respect for labor rights, including protecting at-risk labor rights advocates as human rights defenders, promoting respect for the right to organize and bargain collectively, and improving legal frameworks, institutions, enforcement, and awareness to address child labor, forced labor, and other labor violations.
- Pillar IV: Improving government protection of children, victims of violence, and marginalized populations, preventing human trafficking, and identifying opportunities for children and youth as alternatives to participation in gangs and other illicit activities.
- Pillar V: Including a labor lens in USG efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence to address workplace violence.
Central America Forward:
Central America Forward is an initiative to galvanize private sector support for key aspects of the Root Causes strategy, including creating economic opportunity and strengthening the protection of labor rights. ILAB aims to foster the creation of good jobs and to leverage private sector support for rules and principles of a just society to advance respect for fundamental labor rights. The Good Governance, Good Jobs Declaration was announced on February 6, 2023, and embodies the aspirations and commitments of the USG and Partnership for Central America on rules and principles for a just society and governance, including labor rights.
DOL will be carrying out ongoing activities pertaining to this initiative.
- Any company wishing to join Central America Forward may contact DOL or another USG agency to begin the process.
- Any member of the public with concerns about the labor practices of a Central America Forward member may contact DOL to discuss their concerns.
Collaborative Migration Management Strategy (CMMS):
The CMMS enhances humanitarian support, regional protections, and investment in migration management, to help build a more stable region, strengthen legal pathways for those who migrate, and reduce irregular migration. The lines of efforts for this strategy include DOL domestic and international equities: the administration of temporary labor programs in the U.S., the labor conditions and rights of those temporary workers while in the U.S., and the fair and ethical recruitment of workers in their home countries.