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Bilateral Labor Agreements (BLAs)

Research guide for locating Bilateral Labor Agreements. A BLA is any treaty that regulates the flow of workers between two countries, including amendments and additional protocols to previously signed agreements.

Introduction

Uganda, Saudi Arabia Sign Bilateral Labour Agreement, Ug Mirror, Jan. 8, 2018

Uganda, Saudi Arabia Sign Labour Recruitment Agreement, Dec. 31, 2017

 

This LibGuide provides research strategies, and links to sources for the full texts of, as well as indexes to, bilateral labor agreements (BLAs). For the purposes of this research project, a BLA is "any treaty that regulates the flow of workers between two countries, including amendments and additional protocols to previously signed agreements." 

BLAs can be located by searching sources of bilateral treaties or international agreements, including specialized labor/migration treaty sources. A treaty instrument or international agreement can be called a pact, accord, memorandum of understanding (MoU), memorandum of agreement (MoA), declaration, or an exchange of notes and letters.  BLAs can be published in print treaty series, official gazettes, treaty databases, websites, treaty compilations including topical/subject compilations. And they can be published in articles, books, papers, a variety of sources.

BLAs can cover topics such as the below.

Examples:

  • ID14 (1951): employment of Mexican agricultural workers in the United States
  • ID38 (1968): recruitment and employment of Filipinos to work in American military bases
  • ID52 (1979): visas to student employees between Canada and Netherlands
  • ID53 (2005): working holiday program between Belgium and Canada
  • ID84 (2013): recruitment of Filipino workers for employment in Saskatchewan
  • ID93 (1974): exchange of junior technicians between Brazil and Mexico
  • ID139 (2008): exchange of junior technicians between Chile and Switzerland
  • ID177 (2003): Filipino nurses in the UK
  • ID342 (1970): Yugoslav seasonal workers in France
  • ID585 (1966): recruitment and employment of Turkish workers in Austria
  • ID748 (2014): recruitment of Indian domestic workers for employment in Saudi Arabia
  • ID774 (2008): an additional protocol to a 1997 agreement on employment of Filipinos in Qatar
  • ID857 (2000): an amendment to a previously signed MoU on employment of Filipino workers in Northern Mariana Islands