103
PRIORITYMEASURE69
“Promote the signing of bilateral andmultilateral social security conventions to enablemigrant workers to accumulate years of service.”
Possible lines of action
1. Adopt specific national legislation on the rights of migrant workers, in line with the provisions of the Ibero-American Multilateral
Convention on Social Security; 2. Conduct periodic evaluations of social security agreements adopted by countries; 3. Negotiate
agreements and conventions among member countries of CELAC and organizations at the regional (UNASUR) and subregional levels
(MERCOSUR, CAN, SICA, CARICOM).
Targets
1. Achieve ratification and effective application of the CMISS by all countries of the region; 2. Conduct periodic evaluations of the
functioning of theCMISS; 3. Have in place specific bilateral agreements based on theCMISS (a) in countrieswhere the social protection
system so requires, and (b) in countries that are notmembers of the Ibero-American community.
Tentative indicators
1. Percentage and number of direct beneficiaries covered by a convention in each country, in relation to the total of immigrant workers in
the labour force; 2. The effective functioning anddissemination of the Ibero-AmericanMultilateral Convention onSocial Security and of
subregional and bilateral agreements; 3. Number of cases satisfactorily dealt with each year; 4. Number of retiredmigrant beneficiaries
who have pensions eachyear.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
This measure is covered by the CMISS (http://www.oiss.org/-Convenio-Multilateral-.html): as ofMarch 2015, 12 countries had ratified
it and nine countries reported that they were effectively applying it. That instrument refers to the Ibero-American community; countries
of the region that are not represented in it can strengthen their bilateral, regional and subregionalmechanisms on the basis of theCMISS.
CELAC, in particular, can promote the convention further among itsmembers and encourage the adoption of others, of a subregional or
bilateral nature, such as inMERCOSUR andCAN.
There are a number of ILO conventions that must not be overlooked, although their application among countries is uneven. This priority
measure is associatedwith SDG 8.8, “protect labour rights and promote safe and secureworking environments for all workers, including
migrant workers, particularly women migrants, and those in precarious employment”, for which the United Nations Statistics Division
has proposed “Ratification and implementation of ILO fundamental conventions and relevant international labour and human rights
standards” as one of its indicators.
Comments
This prioritymeasure is very specific, and focuses onworking conditions, and in particular on pension portability. It provides a suitable
complement to PM 67, as all regular-statusmigrantswill be covered by thismeasure. The notion of bilateral agreementsmust always be
seen as a possibility, in light of specific protocols, especially when pension systems have very different makeups. The OISS can play a
key role in follow-up to bilateral and subregional proposals.
