A/HRC/26/35 accepting lower wages and poor working conditions. However, States seem to invest very few resources in trying to reduce the informal sector and sanction employers who profit from the exploitative conditions of work to boost their competitiveness. 18. Generally, migrants are at heightened risk of exploitation and abuse in the workplace, due to (a) deceptive recruitment practices, both by employers and intermediaries; (b) frequent lack of social support systems; (c) unfamiliarity with the local culture, language, their rights at work and national labour and migration laws in the country of employment; (d) limited or denied access to legal and administrative systems; (e) dependence on the job and employer due to migration-related debt, legal status, or employers restricting their freedom to leave the workplace; and (f) reliance by family members on remittances sent back home by the migrant. These factors are amplified by the discrimination and xenophobia that migrants are increasingly facing everywhere. 19. Factors which further contribute to exploitation of migrants in the workplace include (a) pressure to lower the cost of labour in highly competitive sectors; (b) the absence of effective implementation of labour and occupational health and safety standards; and (c) frequent lack of unionization. This concerns sectors where migrants are frequently concentrated, such as agriculture, construction, hospitality, care-giving, domestic work and informal work (such as street vendors). Migrants routinely work long hours, including overtime for which they are often not paid, and sometimes do not get their breaks or leave entitlements. They frequently report having been misinformed about labour conditions and benefits, and left without access to medical care and consular protection. A key contributing factor of their exploitation is their general fear of being identified, arrested, detained and deported for real or imagined reasons, and their consequent reluctance to risk complaining, protesting or publicly mobilizing, preferring very often to “move on”. 20. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 68/179, has requested all States “to enforce labour law effectively, including by addressing violations of such law, with regard to migrant workers’ labour relations and working conditions, inter alia, those related to their remuneration and conditions of health, safety at work and the right to freedom of association”. In the Declaration adopted by the General Assembly during the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in October 2013, States agreed to (a) promote and protect effectively the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants, regardless of their migration status; (b) protect women migrant workers in all sectors, including those involved in domestic work; (c) respect and promote international labour standards and the rights of migrants in their workplaces; and (d) cooperate on labour mobility programmes. 21. The Special Rapporteur has met with migrant workers during his country visits. He also continuously receives information from migrants themselves, civil society organizations and other sources on their behalf. This report is based on information collected by the Special Rapporteur during country visits, information received from migrants and other sources, and desk review. It also draws on the work of his two predecessors, including their findings during country visits and thematic reports. 22. Recruitment practices and their impact on the human rights of migrants is something the Special Rapporteur believes warrants a more thorough study, and he plans to look into this more in detail in one of his future thematic reports. Recruitment practices are therefore not covered in detail in this report. B. Overview of the legal framework 23. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core international human rights treaties provide a broad framework for non-discrimination and protection of the human 5