Published on 11th July 2017
IRIS is a voluntary multi-stakeholder certification system for labour recruiters developed to support ethical recruitment of migrant workers. It is comprised of an international standard, a certification scheme, and a compliance and monitoring mechanism. For businesses, recruiters and migrant workers, IRIS could serve as a quality tool for the assessment of labour recruiters.
A first pilot project is planned to start as of the last quarter of 2017.
The first version of the scheme is due to be published in 2018. The IRIS Standard is used to verify labour recruiters’ compliance with the ethical recruitment principles and has been developed through multi-stakeholder consultations. The IRIS certification scheme currently under development will provide assurance of compliance with the Standard.
As a member of the Advisory Committee Denis Pennel took part in the meeting representing the World Employment Confederation. He addressed the lack of governance and stakeholder involvement in the proposed scheme. Furthermore he expressed his concerns about unrealistic responsibilities in supply chains and the lack of competence of any recruiter in ensuring clients and contractors to comply with the scheme.
Finally the World Employment Confederation code of conduct and the voluntary self-regulatory initiatives were put forward to the Committee. The World Employment Confederation Head Office is preparing an assessment of the standard to bring in the employment industry’s input during a webinar organized by IOM in November. As a follow-up the Compendium of quality standards of World Employment Confederation members was shared with the IOM team to serve as bench-learning.
