A/70/310 back home. 3 Research shows that labour migration of low-wage workers can bring the biggest gains in poverty. 35. Unscrupulous recruiters take significant resources away from migrants, through the charging of recruitment fees and broader economic exploitation, thus effectively disempowering the poorest within the global economic system. It is not uncommon for these fees to fund corrupt business practices among unethical recruitment agencies. Reports have suggested that unethical recruiters have used money gained from recruitment fees on illegal activities such as prostitution, drugs and the funding of the electoral campaigns of specific political parties. Therefore, the resources that are being diverted away from migrants and global poverty eradication, is being channelled into illicit activities. 36. The development impact of labour migration is not limited to remittances. It also has the potential to support sustainable development through upskilling workers who are able to make additional contributions to their home countries upon return. As well as exploiting and abusing migrants, unethical recruitment is also often ineffective in placing workers in roles that suit their skills and needs, as it is based on a model of narrow and short-term profit maximization. There are reports of recruiters placing people medically unfit into roles; using underage workers; and matching people to positions at odds with their skills. If specific labour needs are not met with appropriately skilled workers, the development impact achieved through upskilling migrants is limited. B. The economic inefficiency of the current recruitment model 37. Recruitment is the beginning of the entire migration cycle. Matching the right workers with specific labour needs is vital to the efficient and equitable functioning of both the migration process and labour markets in countries of destination. If migrant workers are unsuitable for the roles where they are placed, then the recruitment and migration process often must start again and/or migrants are forced to try to complete tasks for which they are either fundamentally not suited or adequately trained. When this myopic approach to profit maximization is replicated on a large scale, it creates significant inefficiency within migration processes, businesses and supply chains, as well as the overall economy of destination countries. Considering the number of migrant workers employed in certain countries, the loss of productivity due to the mismatching of labour skills and needs can be enormous over the long term. 38. When migrants pay recruitment fees, the economic incentive for recruiters to invest time and energy in the proper placement of migrant workers is limited. The profit of recruiters is not dependent upon the successful matching of skills and needs, as their business model is based on increasing the number of migrants placed. If a work placement breaks down, recruiters can actually benefit further, as migrants may be compelled to sign and new contract for their services or new migrant workers may be needed, thus churning more benefits for the whole recruitment chain (agents, managers, people selling sponsorship or access to visas, for example). This ensures a vested interest by these key stakeholders in maintaining the current unethical arrangements. __________________ 3 10/26 A/69/302. 15-13569