A/78/180 law. 19 Such systems restrict workers’ ability to renew their work permits and to change employers without the employers’ permission and often require that workers live in employer-provided housing or in an employer’s residence. Paperwork renewals happen through the sponsor, meaning that workers are often unaware of the status of their renewal, and the power imbalance means that workers are not lik ely to speak out against unsafe work, mistreatment, withholding of wages, etc., owing to fear of loss of current or future employment. Despite clear international guidance against this practice, employers also often continue to hold employees’ passports. I n some cases, in particular in circular and seasonal migration programmes and in domestic worker programmes and renewal systems mean that employers wield the power over workers for current but also future employment, making it much less likely that a worke r will file complaints or refuse unsafe work. 20 32. For workers under tied work permit and kafala systems, conflicts with employers can lead not only to workplace abuse or loss of employment but also to loss of work permit, migration status and housing and even to imprisonment and deportation. 21 3. Irregular migration 33. Irregular migration is a reality of labour migration that should neither be ignored nor criminalized. When migrant workers are denied access to regular pathways, inclusive of visa schemes or temporary labour programmes, they often have few options other than irregular pathways, which can generate additional forms of vulnerability. Often migrants who transit through irregular pathways lack formal documentation to work in countries of employment. Irregular migration pathways can, in some cases, involve unregulated labour recruiters and, in others, smugglers or criminal organizations working across migration corridors. Trafficking and forced labour can begin through unethical recruitment practices but are enabled by the practices in origin and destination countries. 22,23,24 Irregular migration increases migrants’ vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, forced labour, trafficking and modern forms of slavery, including because of their reliance on smugglers, a lack of access to protection mechanisms and safety nets along migration routes and in countries of destination. 34. Migrant workers who have entered their country of employment via an irregular pathway or have fallen into an irregular situation are often penalized prior to return, facing detention ahead of their deportation, and may also face punishment on return where irregular emigration is penalized by their country of origin. For example, the administrative burden of these schemes may see some employers or recruiters fail to process work permits and/or employment contracts correctly, leaving migrant workers unknowingly in irregular status. Time limits on work permits, criteria for renewal of work permits and complex bureaucratic processes may push many migrant workers under temporary migrant worker programmes into irregularity. With their residency tied to their employer, migrant workers who experience human rights abuses at work may __________________ 19 20 21 22 23 24 23-13823 The Legal Clinic on International Human Rights Law at University Carlos III of Madrid contributed to this section. Migrant Forum Asia, “Reform of the Kafala (sponsorship) system”, policy brief No. 2, 2012. Available at https://www.ilo.org/dyn/migpractice/docs/132/PB2.pdf. Submission from the Women in Migration Network. Vani Saraswathi, “In Ghana, the ban that isn’t feeds corruption and desperation”, 7 April 2023. Available at www.migrant-rights.org/2023/04/in-ghana-the-ban-that-isnt-feeds-corruption-and-desperation/. Vani Saraswathi, “Ill-prepared and uninformed, Ghanaian women risk it all for jobs in the Gulf ”. Available at www.migrant-rights.org/2023/04/ill-prepared-and-uninformed-ghanaian-womenrisk-it-all-for-jobs-in-the-gulf/. Migrant-Rights.org, “Huge recruitment fees charged for jobs in the Gulf; Qatar recruiters accused of demanding the highest commissions”. Available at www.migrant-rights.org/2022/06/hugerecruitment-fees-charged-for-jobs-in-the-gulf-qatar-recruiters-accused-of-demanding-the-highestcommissions/. 9/21