Entrepreneurs, representatives of business associations and private employment agencies, as well as government officials in charge of employment policies participated in the Forum on Good Practices of Ethical Recruitment in Panama, organized on September 29 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Ministry of Labour and Workforce Development (MITRADEL).

Based on the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS), IOM has been coordinating joint actions with MITRADEL's Employment Directorate since 2020 to help strengthen multi-stakeholder actions to promote ethical recruitment and protection of migrant workers.

IRIS is a multi-stakeholder initiative created by IOM to respond to the growing demand from the private sector and governments for ethical recruitment services.

In this context, the objective of the activity was for private placement agencies to know the relevant regulations on intermediation, tertiarization of services and good practices that entail decent and ethical work for the elimination of trafficking in persons, addressing the rights of migrant workers in the country.

The session began with the conference on Inclusive Companies and Ethical Recruitment by Marisol Linero, lawyer and IOM consultant specialist in labour migration in Panama.

A first panel of experts followed to discuss good practices in inclusive contracting, why they incorporated inclusion strategies in their respective companies and what they consider to be the challenges in Panama to achieve inclusion in human resources.

This panel was moderated by Krystel Harrouche, National Director of the Public Employment Service of the Employment Directorate of the Ministry of Labour. Among the panelists were Luis Pinzón, Head of Human Resources at ISAE and Denia González, psychologist specialist in human resources at Laboratorios Farmacéuticos Lafsa.

The National Deputy Director of Employment of the Ministry of Labour, Layda Mojica, led the conference on Non-Discriminatory Recruitment and emphasized the importance of a blind resume.

The forum culminated with the second panel of experts on companies with good ethical recruitment practices, in which Sofia Mateu, Director of Mol Manning Service S.A.; Jeff Morales, Marketing Manager at Konzerta Panama; Dadhjy Jiménez, General Manager of Outsourcing at Grupo Siuma, and moderated by Marisol Linero. The experts discussed the strategies they have been able to incorporate to carry out an ethical recruitment for their companies and what they consider to be the challenges in Panama to achieve ethical recruitment.

"Private placement agencies play an important role in the operation of different types of jobs, recruitment is constantly adapting to respond quickly to the changing needs of the labour market. Recent years have been characterized by an increase in the presence of private placement agencies. For our part, we reiterate our commitment to continue working to encourage ethical recruitment as a vital part of strong migration governance," concluded Ileen Lezcano, Operations Assistant and labour migration focal point for IOM in Panama.

This event was made possible with the funding of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM).

For more information, contact IOM Panama's communications team via iompanama@iom.int