According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the increase in the number of international migrants has been constant over the last two decades. International migrants now account for about 3.6% of the world's population. Nearly two-thirds of them are migrant workers, confirming the relevance of labour migration today.

Given this situation, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) designed the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS) together with partners in the governmental, private, and civil society sectors. It is a global social compliance program, designed to promote ethical international recruitment, establish a benchmark for ethical recruitment as well as a voluntary certification scheme for recruiters. IRIS is also an initiative that involves multiple key players and was created to respond to the growing demand from the private sector and governments for ethical recruitment services.

Since 2020, on the basis of IRIS' global initiative and within the framework of the Promoting Ethical Recruitment in the Hotel and Tourism Industry project, IOM and the Ministry of Labour and Professional Development of the Republic of Panama have been undertaking joint actions with the Employment Department with the intention of contributing to the strengthening of actions among the multiple stakeholders to promote the ethical recruitment and protection of migrant workers.

"The current mission of public employment services goes beyond helping job seekers to find employment and helping companies to fill vacancies. It also involves aligning the supply and demand for skills in the labour market.", expressed Zaritma Simon, Director of Employment at the Ministry of Labour and Professional Development.

With the objective of continuing these actions, carried out jointly, and promoting good practices, the Ministry of Labour and Professional Development and IOM organized a blended session with virtual and on location participants  on ethical, safe, and responsible recruitment aimed at representatives of the Private Recruitment Agencies registered in Panama, which was held on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Forty-six representatives from both the private and government sectors participated in the activity.

Mattias Carlson, IOM’s focal point of employment with the private sector of the IRIS Secretariat in Geneva, participated in the activity, as did María José Ordóñez, Head of the Office of Recruitment Agencies of the Ministry of Labour and Professional Development, who made a presentation on the current legal framework regarding the recruitment and employment of human resources before exchanging knowledge and ideas with the participants.

Nowadays, activities like these have become increasingly important, considering that the working migrant population is one of the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the contraction of the economy worldwide. Preliminary estimations indicate that the pandemic may have slowed the growth of this population by around two million by mid-2020, 27% less than the expected growth since mid-2019. The mobility and ethical recruitment of migrant workers is a key factor for economic revival.

Gonzalo Medina, Project Officer at IOM in Panama, said that "we must recognize that labour migration is a central factor in the economy of countries and migrant workers will be key to the economic recovery, provided that companies carry out recruitment and employment practices that guarantee the human and labour rights of all workers. These exchanges between the government and private sectors promote a vision of migration based on integration, inclusion and development."

This event was held thanks to the accompaniment of the Promoting Ethical Recruitment in the Hotel and Tourism Industry project implemented by IOM and funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) of the Department of State of the United States of America.