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Centre for Migration Research and Development

Bilateral Labour Agreements as Migration Governance Instruments: A Gender Analysis of Structures and Outcomes

The research is conducted in partnership with the Queen Mary University of London. The central purpose of this project is to conduct an investigation of Bilateral Labour Agreements (BLAs) as a key mode of labour migration governance across migration corridors in Asia, in order to determine to what extent these agreements alleviate or exacerbate gender inequality, given the feminisation of migration. The project aims to trace BLAs Sri Lanka maintains with various destination countries, with the broader aim to examine BLAs as governing mechanisms for labour migration, and more specifically to assess how they fare across sectors in terms of human and labour rights, and gender equality, at structural and individual level. The research project is funded by the British Academy (BA).
Household in Sri Lanka

Project publications

  1. [Books and chapters] Amirthalingam, K., Ekanayake, A., Perera, E. S. J., Piper, N., & Seneviratne, W. (2025). Bilateral Labour Agreements as a Tool for Managing Gendered Migration from Sri Lanka. In New Directions in South-South Migration (pp. 133-153). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
    [link]

  2. [Reports] Ekanayake, A., Amirthalingam, K., Piper, N., and Perera, S. (2023), "Survey on Returnee Migrant Workers in Sri Lanka: A Gendered Analysis of Living and Working Conditions and Institutional Support Mechanisms", Centre for Migration Research and Development.
    [link]

  3. [Reports] Piper, N. (2023). Bilateral Labour Agreements Re-Examined from a Gender Perspective: An Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Framework [CMRD report]. Centre for Migration Research and Development.
    [link]

  4. [Reports] Seneviratne, W., D. Sumanadasa, A. Thilakarathna and R. Senaratne (2023). Bilateral Labour Agreements Between Sri Lanka and Other Jurisdictions: A Critical Legal Analysis [CMRD report]. Centre for Migration Research and Development.
    [link]