A/70/310 A. Effectively banning recruitment fees 50. A key element of transitioning to an ethical system is an outright ban on any recruitment fees being charged to migrants. Recruitment fees are a business-tobusiness charge and it is unacceptable to pass such costs to often vulnerable migrants who have to take out loans to pay these fees. 51. There is currently, in many countries, a complex, confusing and ineffective system of tiered fees, whereby, under the law, recruiters may charge different fees to different migrants depending upon the wage level of the opportunity offered. These limitations on fees are not effectively enforced with migrants often being charged more and/or deceived about the terms and conditions. Legislation to try to limit the fees also inappropriately legitimizes the concept of charging recruitment fees to migrants. Outright bans on recruitment fees avoid complexity and confusion, and contribute to the cultural shift needed to stop migrants accepting fees as an inevitable cost of labour migration. Countries acting collectively as regional or international blocs should totally ban recruitment fees at the same time, so as to ensure that concerns about international competitiveness do not impact wholesale transition to an ethical system. 52. As legislators and regulators, Governments have a key role to play in the effective banning of all recruitment fees among migrant workers. They should ban fees in law and ensure that effective monitoring and regulation processes are in place to effectively implement the policy of “no recruitment fees”. Nepal’s zero-cost migration policy is an example of a Government taking a stand against current recruitment practices. From summer 2015, they will no longer approve migrant workers working in countries where employers will not pay their visa and airfare fees. The Ministry of Labour and Employment recently asked Nepal’s embassies in Malaysia and six Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman) to stop attesting applications submitted by employment companies demanding Nepali migrant workers unless they were willing to pay their ticket and visa fees. 53. Additionally, businesses can support a transition to a total ban on recruitment fees. Increased media coverage of supply chain issues and labour market abuses, pressure from trade unions, and activism within civil society now join to make companies more aware of the reputational and legal risks associated with exploitative labour practices. Institutional investors are also increasingly using a range of ethical practices including labour supply, when screening company risk with a view to both reputational and operational efficiency. There are a number of actions that businesses can take to mitigate these risks and support wholesale transition to an ethical system, including conducting thorough audits of their supply chains to ensure that their contractors and subcontractors do not work with recruiters who charge migrant workers fees. This should include a commitment to ensuring no recruitment fees are paid by migrant workers within high-level policy commitments, refunding any fees paid by migrants, and collaborating with other business stakeholders to mobilize resources to protect workers. 54. Examples of current good practice in relation to business practice and the banning of recruitment fees include: • Ethical recruiters, such as FSI International, never charge recruitment fees to migrants 15-13569 13/26