Social Security for International Labour Migrants: Issues and Policy Options

Cross-border population movement, an indispensible feature of the current phase of globalisation, has led to significant changes in the migration landscape. Factors like temporisation of labour flows, increased mobility of low and semi-skilled migrants, and rise in irregular migration have widened the range of insecurities encountered by migrants. This paper aims to highlight the case for providing social security to transnational workers, considering the heterogeneity associated with labour migration flows and the corresponding increase in insecurities of migrants. It analyses international legal instruments and document good practices, at multilateral and bilateral levels, to argue for extending such initiatives particularly to workers from developing countries. Social security for migrants from India is explored to make a case.