A/78/180 28. When workers do not have sufficient information about their rights or risks associated with certain migration routes or actors, or when application processes are unclear or complex, or criteria for entry are too elevated, workers may use the services of a labour broker or recruiter or, in the worst cases, smugglers, to navigate the complexities associated with securing visas and employment outside of their country of origin. 2. Temporary labour migration programmes 29. In cases where applicants must demonstrate an offer of employment in order to secure a work permit, migrant workers face limits on the permit duration, and States commonly restrict family reunification, deny multiple re-entry permits and restrict access to specific sectors and occupations (in particular for migrant workers with low levels of formal education and/or skills). In some cases, sending States may also impose restrictions on workers, such as through forced saving schemes or mandatory deductions for private insurance, air transportation, health examinations or other costs. Sector-specific temporary labour migration programmes typically involve fixed-term, low-wage work in sectors such as agriculture, construction, care work or the service industry. Although characterized as “temporary”, migrant workers in these programmes often undertake repeated migrations (i.e., circular) for decades and even effectively for their whole working lives. Despite working in situations where the labour demands are permanent (such as in agriculture), migrant workers in these programmes are routinely excluded from pathways to permanent stay or citizenship, as well as family unity. 16 Many temporary labour migration programmes discriminate against women, by restricting their employment to feminized jobs (e.g., care work) in female-dominated occupations that are devalued and underregulated, and employers often select workers on the basis of gender and country of origin. 30. Such programmes are not consistent with broadly accepted labour rights, including the right to change employers, mobility rights and the right to family reunification. Often, the “temporary” designation of the work permit can lead to restrictions on a range of human and labour rights, as well as exclusions from law, policy and programmes intended for citizen and permanent workers (such as social protection). This is particularly the case with temporary migrant worker programmes that tie workers to a single employer, meaning that their visas and documentation are not portable between employers, jobs or sectors. 17 In many cases, they do not have the ability to work for multiple employers, to seek other employment or to change status or programmes from within the country of employment. Work permits that tie migrant workers to a specific employer for the duration of their stay create additional structural vulnerabilities and extreme power asymmetries, exacerbating human rights violations through the practical delegation by States of varying degrees of responsibility for the operation and oversight of the schemes to employers and a range of other private intermediaries. 18 Such programmes are fraught with issues due to employer control over workers’ access to rights protections (e.g., collective bargaining rights). Issues range from egregious human and labour rights violations (e.g., wage theft, unsafe work, wrongful dismissal) to barriers to accessing full social protection (e.g., ineligibility for parental benefits, long term disability, spousal benefits), etc. 31. Kafala and sponsorship systems further heighten migran ts’ risks of exploitation and are largely not aligned with States’ obligations under international human rights __________________ 16 17 18 8/21 OHCHR, We Wanted Workers, but Human Beings Came (see footnote 7). See Government of Canada, Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program. See www.canada.ca/en/ employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers/agricultural/seasonal-agricultural.html. OHCHR, We Wanted Workers, but Human Beings Came (see footnote 7). 23-13823