Egypt’s new labour law regulates the role of recruitment agencies and aligns with international standards to protect Egyptian workers abroad, the minister of labour said on Sunday.
Speaking at a roundtable discussion on “fair recruitment,” Minister Mohamed Goubran said the new law, No. 14 of 2025, provides an opportunity to clarify its key provisions, particularly those related to the employment of Egyptian workers abroad.
“We will be firm in confronting fraudulent recruitment companies,” Goubran said, while praising the role of companies that adhere to national legislation and fair recruitment principles.
The roundtable, organised by the Ministry of Labour in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), was held as part of a regional programme aimed at enhancing the governance of labour migration and mobility in North Africa. The minister listened to representatives of recruitment agencies discuss the challenges they face and answered their questions.
Goubran highlighted the ministry’s cooperation in the first phase of the project, which ran for nearly four years until 2023 and included awareness activities targeting employers, recruitment agencies, and the media. A “pre-departure orientation unit” was also established to educate workers about their rights and duties before leaving the country.
Eric Oechslin, director of the ILO’s Cairo office, said the organisation has long been at the forefront of efforts to promote decent work for migrant workers globally. He praised the EU-funded programme, which has now entered its second phase under the name THAMM Plus.
The event included a presentation on the new labour law by the ministry’s legal adviser, Ihab Abdel-Aty, and another on the ILO’s general principles and operational guidelines for fair recruitment, including the Private Employment Agencies Convention of 1997.
