Timor-Leste - Labour migrants provide remittances that account for one of the country’s largest sources of wealth, along with petroleum, gas and coffee. The country has over 2,300 workers deployed in South Korea and Australia through government-to-government labour migration programmes, sending millions of dollars back home annually. In 2015, about USD 3 million was remitted to Timor-Leste by migrant workers participating in these programmes.

On 25 January, the draft of Timor-Leste’s first National Action Plan for Labour Migration was presented to stakeholders by the Secretariat of State for Professional Training and Employment Policy (SEPFOPE). Support was also provided by IOM Timor-Leste, including through a dissemination workshop held in the capital Dili as part of the Project “Road to ASEAN: Strengthening Labour Migration Management in Timor-Leste” funded by the IOM Development Fund.

The three-year Action Plan is meant to direct Timor-Leste’s forthcoming efforts to strengthen governance mechanisms and practices in labour migration management in support of national development. Specifically, the plan sets objectives across key areas of intervention, and identifies concrete actions to be undertaken by government actors in partnership with private sector and civil society partners.

The full day workshop was attended by over 40 representatives from government, civil society, private sector and development partners and included a presentation of the plan by SEPFOPE and presentations by two resource persons representing the ASEAN Secretariat and IOM Indonesia.

Opening the workshop, the Director General of SEPFOPE, Mr. Jacinto Gusmão, said: “The current government labour migration programmes are enabling Timorese workers to earn income, acquire skills, and bring their expertise back home, contributing to the development of communities and the nation. A government priority is to support job seekers to access safe and decent overseas job opportunities and to ensure their welfare. This National Action Plan presents the government’s strategies to reinforce its support and protection for Timorese working abroad, their families, as well as for foreign migrants in Timor-Leste”.

Dr. Bruno Maltoni, chief of mission for IOM in Timor-Leste said: “The plan is a collective result of consultations with stakeholders over a year. The plan is aspirational in that it lists a suite of options available to the government to manage international labour migration. It is a living document and I hope it will stimulate in-depth discussions across government departments and stakeholders so that migration and migrants’ interests will be mainstreamed into development policies and programmes in Timor-Leste”.

Since 2014, IOM Timor-Leste has been providing technical assistance for the Government of Timor-Leste in the field of labour migration management, with support from the IOM Development Fund. IOM’s support for SEPFOPE includes the facilitation of the development of the labour migration action plan, staff training, and study visits to Jakarta, Indonesia, and Darwin, Australia.

For more information please contact Bruno Maltoni at IOM Timor-Leste, Email: bmaltoni@iom.int - Tel. +670 331 3038.