In December 2019, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Diginex, a blockchain financial services and technology company, launched IRIS SAFER, an innovative digital tool to promote human and labour rights of migrant workers. 

IRIS SAFER is the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS) Self-Assessment for Ethical Recruitment (SAFER) - developed for private recruitment agencies (PRAs) to assess how well they align with global ethical recruitment principles in the IRIS Standard. IRIS SAFER also offers guidance and assistance to PRAs in connection with IRIS capacity development activities to improve their recruitment practices.

IRIS SAFER is a simple, straightforward and user-friendly self-assessment tool. To access IRIS SAFER, PRAs must have participated in an IRIS introductory workshop and received an invitation to register. To conduct the self-assessment, the PRAs will answer 40 questions and upload supporting documents. As a result, each agency will receive an indicative score, which shows how well their current practices align with ethical recruitment principles. IRIS SAFER is a quick and easy first step for recruiters to understand how the IRIS Standard relates to their work before enrolling in the IRIS Capacity Building Programme.

Mr. Mark Blick, Head of Government Solutions at Diginex, said: “Using the UN’s IRIS Standard as the benchmark for reputable agencies, we are confident that the tool can help to strike out these unethical practices.” 

“Through use of IRIS-SAFER, agencies will first learn what global ethical recruitment standards are, then be able to demonstrate their progress and, ultimately, prove their commitment. With this project, we are drawing from IOM’s global work, through the IRIS initiative, and tailoring it to the specific experience of recruiting migrant domestic workers to Hong Kong SAR, China to ensure that in future no migrant domestic worker is made vulnerable to exploitation due to unethical recruitment.” added Mr. Giuseppe Crocetti, Chief of Mission, IOM China.  

Following the successful launch of IRIS SAFER in Hong Kong SAR and select countries of origin for migrant domestic workers, it is the intention to rollout the use of IRIS SAFER to recruitment agencies in other jurisdictions and across labour sectors globally in 2020.

To learn more, please contact:
Alexandra Chan, Senior Project Assistant, 
IOM Hong Kong SAR, China
achan@iom.int