Introduction
Marking the tenth anniversary of the Middle East Centre for Training and Development (MECTD) is very significant, where the 2024 annual report echoes centre’s decade long journey. With strengthened institutional capacity on migration and development has paved way to prove its ability to promote safe migration for foreigners engaged and seeking employment in UAE’s economy. This report largely draws activities on by the centre throughout the year 2024, which have contributed in reaching this milestone with multistakeholder involvement. Similar to previous years, the centre played a pivotal role in enhancing the knowledge of low-come workers- particularly guiding job seekers and resident permit holders with support mechanisms to ensure that they adhere to the country’s rules and regulations, thereby meeting their intended objectives for choosing UAE as a major destination. In 2024, the centre also played a crucial role in building the institutional capacity of its stakeholders on domestic and international labour standards, aiming at policy reforms for worker well-being.
The year 2024 witnessed a great achievement for the MECTD in two major occasions. First, it was commissioned by the Dubai Permanent Committee for Labour Affairs (PCLA) to undertake a study and second, the Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) secretariat invited centre for the first time to attend the ministerial meeting that took place in February in Dubai. It is apt to mention that MECTD had previously attended side events and parallel meetings in earlier ADD consultations. PCLA’s study involving MECTD was a milestone, as it not only resulted in establishing close collaboration with the Philippines’s local government, the Quezon City Mayor, but also explored possible scope with the Mayoral Forum, which addresses the role of cities in migration and development.
Moreover, MECTD representing at the 7th Abu Dhabi Dialogue Ministerial Consultation in Dubai and 14th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit in Geneva reflects how a locally based institution in the region can play a vital role in promoting policy recommendations for the advancement of labour migration governance.
In 2024, MECTD was instrumental during UAE’s amnesty period, when the government of UAE unfolded a regular initiative to rectify visa violations within the given time. MECTD conducted orientation sessions on UAE laws and regulations for visa violators those who visited Al Awir immigration centre to rectify their residency status. Furthermore, centre broadening its scope with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), enhancing the knowledge of transport workers of both private and public sectors. In total, the centre carried out nearly 65 sessions, educating more than 3,350 workers in the transport and delivery sectors throughout the year.
Activities
Following activities reflect MECTD’s engagement in the year 2024 with local, regional and global like-mined entities for the purpose of institutional capacity and exploring possible collaborations.
14th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit in Geneva
MECTD representatives participated at 14th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) Summit took place in Geneva, Switzerland from the 21st – 26th January 2024. Such global gathering underlined importance on the multi-stakeholder informal, voluntary, and action-oriented participation of governments, private sector, civil society organizations, UN organizations, experts, and media from across all regions and countries to discuss and cooperate on economic, social, and political developments, with migration at the centre.
Abu Dhabi Dialogue 7th Ministerial Consultation Participation in Dubai
MECTD participated attended the Abu Dhabi Dialogue 7th Ministerial Consultation that took place on 10th and 11th February 2024 in Dubai. Such regional consultative process brought participation from countries of origin and destination across the Asia – GCC migration corridors, and offered various academic views on migration practices including expanding ODR (online dispute resolutions), upskilling and upward mobility schemes opportunities for migrant workers, reducing the costs of remittances for migrants, expanding WPS to cover domestic workers, the role of women in R.E. sectors, and many more.
Arab Stakeholders Pre-Consultation
On 30 April 2024, MECTD’s migration researcher participated in the second Arab Stakeholders Pre-Consultation organized by the Cross-Regional Centre for Refugees and Migration (CCRM). Arab regional based participants gathered for a virtual to assess the progress of global compact on migration (GCM).
CO-DESIGN PROCESS for Civil Society Representatives
In June 2024, centre’s migration researcher attended an online meeting held on CO-DESIGN PROCESS for Civil Soc
iety Representatives, which was organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) Arab office.
Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on GCM in Egypt
On 02nd July 2024, MECTD was invited to attend in the “Multi-stakeholder Consultation for the Second Regional Review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in the Arab Region” which was held in Cairo, Egypt. The consultation brought multiple stakeholders including civil society organizations, international organizations, private sector, media, trade unions, researchers and academics to discuss and elaborate on the prominent thematic issues of migration within the Arab region and the implementation of the GCM in the region. Joint statements from the multi-stakeholder consultation presented to governments and heads of state the following days of the Second Regional Review by the Arab Region.
04th Annual International Migration Conference in India
MECTD participated in the 04th Annual International Migration Conference which took place from 14-15 December 2024. The event was organized by the International Institute of Migration and Development (IIMAD), Kerela and Global Business School of O P Jindal Global University, Haryana, India, where renowned scholars from different parts of India and around the world met to discuss perspectives on management, social dynamics, and environmental sustainability related to labour mobility.
Alumni workshop on Business and Human Rights (BHR) Network Building in Thailand
In order to share and learn knowledge on cross-cutting issues of labour migration, MECTD attended a three-day alumni workshop on Business and Human Rights (BHR) Networking Building took place from December 11-14, 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. Nearly 23 DTP alumni from nine countries across Asia and advocates on BHR from East Asia joined the workshop and shared their experiences. The workshop was held with DTP’s partners in BHR capacity building – Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) – along with FORUM-ASIA. The workshop identified common areas of concern between human rights, Indigenous peoples and migrant workers’ movements in Asia.
Regional Conference on Migration in Thailand 
From December 08-10, 2024, MECTD participated in the regional conference on migration under the theme of advancing human rights in a shifting migration landscape. The event brought over the three-days nearly 160 participants to discuss matters on stories and experiences of the social workers from different destination countries, climate change and migration, care economy, racism and xenophobia, sustainable and reintegration of Migrant workers. The regional conference also marked the 30th anniversary of MFA where MECTD had the privilege to honour MFA and its teams for the tremendous works carried out to promote the rights of migrant workers.
Education awareness sessions
In line with presiding years, MECTD played a pivotal role in enhancing knowledge of its target groups which attributed to government of Dubai reaching out to nearly 85,000[1] workers in year 2024 under different initiatives. Low-income workers comprising of deliver riders, general workers, supervisors and women domestic workers took advantage of the sessions covering social behaviour, legal stay, road and safety, health and safety, channels of support. UAE’s main construction and gig economy companies benefitted from such initiative became as catalysts to help understating job seekers about the country’s rules and regulations. Following statistics illustrates how workers examined their knowledge through conducting random surveys before and after session.
Amnesty Programme
Subsequent to the announcement of amnesty programme by the UAE government from 01 September to 31 October, which later extended till 31 December 2024, MECTD played a significant role to enhance knowledge of on breaching residency visa and consequences of individuals visited to the Al Awir Immigration Centre to rectifying their residency status. Understanding employment contracts, support channels to seek legal redress and legal consequences when breaching the residency law were contents covered during the awareness session.
Outreach programme during the Holy Month
During the month of March, MECTD joined with PCLA to spread the spirit of goodwill and solidarity in the community. Covering almost every day, MECTD conducted orientation sessions targeting low-income workers at different labour accommodations and private companies. In addition to sharing knowledge on UAE’s rules and regulations, workers given opportunities to express their talents such as poetry reading, singing and performances were honoured by dignitaries.
International Workers’ Day Celebration
Commemorating of International Workers Day has become an annual core activity of UAE government. Similar to previous years, on 01 May 2024 MECTD took part in the celebration along with state and non-state stakeholders gathered to help understand significance of international day and UAE government’s role in promoting and protecting the rights of workers.
Regional and global collaboration
In terms of collaboration, MECTD continued its regular engagement with its allies at regional and global levels such as Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Diplomacy Training Programme (DTP) and also with like-mined organizations including media personnels. In year 2024, O P Jindal University of New Delhi adding into the centre’s contact list was very significant which paved way for broadening scope for thematic studies related to migration and development. It is apt to mention that nearly 46 new contacts included in the list in the year 2024.
[1] Workers in Dubai are now more aware of their rights, top official says