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concerning issues such as home leave, procedures for changing employers and the
cost of repatriation. Information kits and handbooks are published for employers and
foreign workers. Systems to better control recruitment agencies include
accreditation systems, which ensure that the agencies meet minimum business and
ethnical standards. In Kuwait, for example, the Bureau for Domestic Workers was
established to oversee agencies involved with recruitment, and specific conditions
were imposed on employers, including the payment of a deposit to the competent
ministry that could be used by the worker to return to his or her country.
Furthermore, all suits filed by domestic workers under the Labour Code were
exempt from court fees. The Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction that in Costa
Rica migrant workers, regardless of their migratory status, have access to the labour
court to denounce abuses of their labour rights.
64. Efforts to build on already existing good initiatives and to strengthen
protection through renewed partnership are also valuable. The Special Rapporteur
participated in the Regional Summit on Foreign Migrant Domestic Workers held
from 26 to 28 August 2002 in Colombo. Representatives of Governments, trade
unions, NGOs and international organizations also participated in the meeting. The
outcome of the meeting was the Colombo Declaration, published in December 2002.
The Summit provided a very good opportunity to develop a framework for dialogue
based on the principles of respect for human rights without discrimination, in order
to ensure the recognition, protection and dignity of foreign domestic workers. In
February 2003, ILO organized the Programme Consultation Meeting on the
Protection of Domestic Workers Against the Threat of Forced Labour and
Trafficking.
National migration administrations
65. The establishment of specialized groups with the task of providing information
and guidance to migrants in Mexico was welcomed by the Special Rapporteur as an
innovative form of protection in the management of trans-frontier migration. Also,
the Special Rapporteur learned with satisfaction that the Mexican National Institute
for Migration (Instituto Nacional de Migración) has initiated a campaign against
extortion and abuse against migrants. It includes the creation of a web site on
migrants’ rights, a radio campaign for the protection of the human rights of
nationals abroad and the organization of a workshop on the human rights of
migrants with participants from several areas, including law enforcement and
relevant government departments.
Detention/deportation
66. With respect to detention, the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur are
contained in her main report to the fifty-ninth session of the Commission on Human
Rights (E/CN.4/2003/85). As a follow-up to her visits and her communications with
Governments, the Special Rapporteur received information that several countries
were devoting resources to improving the conditions of migrants deprived of their
liberty and to building migrant holding centres that are respectful of the rights and
dignity of the detainees.
67. During her visit to the border between Mexico and the United States, the
Special Rapporteur learned about local bilateral agreements that regulate the
timetables for deporting women and unaccompanied minors in order to avoid their
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