A/HRC/56/54 irregular situations, in particular women, struggle to access health care, including maternal and reproductive care, as well as support and essential services for survivors of violence. In addition, girls may lack access to education. Efforts to seek fair treatment often lead to employer threats of immigration reporting. Although the rights of migrants in irregular situations are protected by law, their vulnerable status can prevent them from seeking and accessing justice.58 Failure to separate access to basic services and immigration enforcement, through “firewalls”, compounds these challenges.59 54. Increasingly, limited regular travel options push migrants towards dangerous irregular travel, exposing them to a host of human rights abuses, with debilitating effects. Since 2014, at least 64,241 migrants have died or gone missing while migrating to international destinations. 60 The normalization of violence against migrants during irregular travel is disturbing. Between 2014 and 2017, 79 per cent of migrants from the Horn of Africa reported having directly witnessed or experienced physical or sexual violence, kidnapping, torture or death. 61 In addition, 1,267 violence-related deaths were registered at the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen between 2022 and 2023, as were 712 killings in the Sahara Desert. 62 In 2022, 36 deaths in the Darien Gap were registered.63 These figures are underestimates, as many migrant deaths are never reported. The trauma and physical injuries sustained during irregular travel severely hinder surviving migrants’ functioning in destination countries. 55. Women and girls face high risks of gender-based violence, exploitation and trafficking during irregular travel, with the militarization of borders placing them at greater risk of sexual violence by military forces.64 56. Many migrants find themselves deeply indebted to smugglers, recruitment agencies, brokers and employers and required to pay fees, which are forbidden under the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) (art. 7 (1)). With migrants deceived or coerced into exploitative situations, debt-financed migration, which constitutes an exploitative labour practice and facilitates further such practices, frequently escalates into trafficking in persons. Fear, such as the fear of deportation, is often used to ensnare them in debt bondage. 57. Prosecutions for trafficking-related exploitation, including debt-financed migration, are rare. Many victims refrain from seeking help due to fears of reprisal, shame or failure to recognize exploitation. Dependency on temporary work permits or permits tied to employers means that cooperation with the authorities could jeopardize employment, status and access to social benefits.65 Impunity enables smugglers, traffickers and abuse to flourish. 58. Immigration detention is increasingly used to deter irregular migration and enforce deportations. Many international bodies advise that detention should be a last resort, for a limited duration and for administrative purposes only. Nevertheless, its use persists around the world, often with dire consequences.66 Detention damages mental health and well-being, further inhibiting migrants’ ability to participate in society. In many countries, it is underregulated and poorly overseen, leading to arbitrary or prolonged detention and mistreatment. For children, detention can lead to long-term mental health issues, developmental setbacks and behavioural challenges.67 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 10 See Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, “A worker is a worker: how to ensure that undocumented migrant workers can access justice” (2020). OHCHR and Global Migration Group, Principles and Guidelines, pp. 6 and 7. See https://missingmigrants.iom.int/. Giulia Spagna, “Weighing the risks: protection risks and human rights violations faced by migrants in and from East Africa”, Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat briefing paper No. 5 (2017), p. 2. See https://missingmigrants.iom.int/decade-deaths-and-disappearances-during-migration-worldwide. See IOM, “Number of migrants who embarked on the dangerous Darien Gap route nearly doubled in 2022”, 17 January 2023. See UN-Women, “Racially marginalized migrant women: human rights abuses at the intersection of race, gender and migration” (2022). See Gallagher, “Exploitation in migration”. See http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/. International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report 2018, p. 149. GE.24-07075