Ministry of Labour, IOM Launch Initiative to Protect Migrant Workers

The Ministry of Employment, Labour and Social Security, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has inaugurated a National Technical Committee aimed at strengthening labour migration governance in Sierra Leone.

The initiative seeks to transition the country from what stakeholders described as a reactive and fragmented migration system to a more regulated, rights-based framework designed to protect citizens from trafficking, exploitation, and unsafe migration practices.

Delivering the keynote address during the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Lansana M. Dumbuya, highlighted the growing importance of labour migration to national development.

He disclosed that global remittances reached an estimated USD 905 billion in 2024, while Sierra Leone received approximately USD 293 million in remittances in 2023, representing between 4.6 percent and 6.1 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).