This mechanism provides a means of action to resolve cases of persistent and widespread abuse of migrant workers. It is triggered when a constituent informs the ILO of abuse of migrant workers falling outside Convention-based procedures. Governments themselves can also initiate a pattern and practice study in their own countries if they feel that there are problems to which the ILO could respond. With regard to international labour trafficking, the Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Future ILO Activities in the Field of Migration , adopted a set of guidelines on special protective measures for migrant workers recruited by private agents. While the scale of women's participation in migration patterns has not changed in recent years, the nature of their participation has.
Women are more likely to migrate spontaneously and independently in search of employment.
Various protective measures have been taken at the international, regional and national levels to redress some of the abuses of which female migrants are victims. Still, qualitative and quantitative data on the impact of the 'feminization' of migration on the labour market of home and host countries has not yet been tackled. As a result, both labour market and migration policies often remain inappropriate and unresponsive - a discrepancy which the ILO is in a unique position to redress.