Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the difficulty of measuring and monitoring of human trafficking within the context of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The challenges that come with monitoring an invisible crime such as human trafficking within the SDG context are due to the fact that the indicators pertaining to human trafficking fall into the category of “difficult to define and collect” type of data. This paper sheds light on these measuring difficulties and makes recommendations how to overcome them. 

This article addresses one of the most debated aspects of immigration namely the question – does welcoming migrants and refugees affect positively or negatively the national dynamics of employment? It offers a policy analysis of the effects of migration and labour market conditions and policies in host countries and discusses opportunities for migrants to enter a host countries’ labour markets. The reasons for high migration are known and linked to violence, persecution, human rights violations and persistently high level of poverty in many parts of the world reaching very high levels over the last three years and resulting in millions of refugees and migrants crossing international borders with thousands of lives lost during the dangerous passing of borders and seas. On the other hand, in many European countries, a growing number of economic sectors are being affected by the potential threat of a shortage of semi-and low skilled workers. Taking Switzerland as an example, fewer young people attend professional schools thereby reducing the potential supply of a semi-skilled work force. The future short fall of semi-skilled and low-skilled work force will further increase due to the ageing of the Swiss population which in turn will impact the demand for semi-skilled and low skilled workers. Refugees and migrants could potentially find jobs in segments of the Swiss labour market thereby providing mutually beneficial solutions for all parties concerned that is a) for refugees and migrants seeking employment and asylum, b) for the aging population of host countries requiring care delivered by a low and semi-skilled work force and c) for public and private sector enterprises finding labour for economic sectors in need of qualified and motivated labour force.

Raymond Saner & Lichia Yiu

Referring to the 2030 Agenda terminology, this paper offers an analysis of the cross-sector relevance of SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and how decent work, employment and economic growth had a positive or less effective impact on other sectors such as Health- using 2030 Agenda terminology - (SDG 3), Education (SDG 4); Rural Development and poverty reduction (SDG 1 & 2), Trade (SDG 17); environment (SDGs 6,13,14,15) and governance (SDG 16). Looking back at what was successful or less successful in regard to intersectoral application of Decent Work to the PRSPs this article provides lessons learnt which is very relevant for the current question of how to implement the SDGs. Most of the SDGs are interdependent and need to be made interactive and the International Organizations holding respective sectoral mandates need to engage in meaningful collaboration rather than continue with old habits of defensive hording of territory.

Saner, R.; Grimm, J, (2011); “Umweltkonflikte und Nachhaltigkeit in Lateinamerika: Verhandlungen zwischen Unternehmen, NGOs und Regierungsstellen” (Environmental conflicts and sustainable development in Latin America: Negotiations between enterprises, NGOs and Governments); Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften SHV; Saarbrücken, (283 pp).