A/HRC/26/35 and the worst forms of child labour. Information available to the Special Rapporteur indicates that recruitment agencies sometimes recruit children and provide them with forged passports, falsely indicating that they are above 18 years of age. A case brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention concerned a migrant domestic worker reportedly aged 17, although her passport stated that she was older. She was charged with murder for the death of a baby in her care, and was later executed by beheading. Migrant children, particularly those who are unaccompanied, are also vulnerable to trafficking. While boys are most vulnerable to becoming victims of trafficking for labour exploitation and forced labour, girls are most vulnerable to trafficking for sexual exploitation and sexual slavery. The lack of community relations and parental oversight of unaccompanied migrant children renders them more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation than local child labourers. They suffer from more maltreatment in the workplace and are generally worse off in terms of working conditions compared to local children. Migrant child labourers are among the least visible and least politically empowered of workers, meaning that employers have no incentive to provide them with proper working and living conditions. This lack of legal protection also generally translates to lower levels of health and education for migrant children. 5. Migrants in an irregular situation 57. The fact that a migrant is in an irregular situation does not deprive him/her of human rights protection. The human rights treaties, including the eight ILO Fundamental Conventions, apply to everyone, without discrimination. However, irregular migrants are frequently victims of labour exploitation. Due to their precarious situation, they often accept working for lower wages than regular migrants and nationals, and in dirty, difficult and dangerous conditions. Additionally, they regularly have difficult access to social services and health care, and live in constant fear of being detected, arrested, detained and deported, if they seek to improve their working conditions. Fear of drawing attention to their immigration status thus prevents many irregular migrants from organizing and from seeking protection from the authorities for their rights as workers, including in case of nonpayment or late payment of their salaries, or implementation of health and safety regulations. Irregular migrants are also vulnerable to abuse and corruption. For instance, the Special Rapporteur has met with irregular migrants who reported having been detained and subsequently released when they paid the police a bribe. 58. States have the power to refuse to give irregular migrants access to their labour market. But as long as such migrants are in fact working, they are entitled to equal conditions of work, based on the principle of equality and non-discrimination. The Special Rapporteur has received information concerning legislation which prohibits irregular migrants from entering into business transactions with the State, including renewing business permits, and irregular immigrants have thus been forced to close their businesses. The same law provides that courts shall not enforce contracts in which one of the parties is known to be in an irregular situation, and as a result, employers have refused to pay their employees, claiming that they have no right to be paid under the new law. As provided by the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (article 25.3), employers shall not be relieved of any legal or contractual obligations, nor shall their obligations be limited in any manner by reason of any irregularity in the stay or employment of migrant workers. The Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that, rather than seeking to apprehend irregular migrants who are working, States should spend more efforts targeting the employers who take advantage of, and often exploit, irregular migrants: this would have the beneficial effect of reducing the underground labour markets that attract irregular migration. The Special Rapporteur further believes that regularization is the most effective measure to address the extreme vulnerability of many irregular migrants, particularly for migrants who have lived in a 14

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