A/HRC/38/41/Add.1 of the Commission, which has been accredited with A status. It has undertaken important work in relation to the human rights of migrants and the Special Rapporteur urges the Commission to continue to expand its activities. 26. He further commends the Commission for signing a memorandum of understanding with the National Human Rights Committee in Qatar and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Republic of Korea), with particular provisions aimed at improving the human rights situation of migrants. He encourages the Commission to continue to monitor and evaluate the implementation of bilateral agreements concluded between Nepal and the various destination countries. He also encourages cooperation between national human rights institutions regarding access to remedies, as defined in the 2008 Seoul Guidelines on the cooperation of national human rights institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights of migrants in Asia. IV. Recruitment process A. Introduction 27. The Department of Foreign Employment is the major entity in charge of issuing the labour permits required for Nepalese migrant workers, including registering, licensing and monitoring private institutions that provide services relating to labour migration. As set out in the Foreign Employment Act and the 2008 rules, licensed recruitment agencies are authorized to receive letters from foreign employers looking for migrant workers, recruit and select migrant labourers and send labourers to the countries that the Government has approved for labour migration. 28. The Department will issue a labour permit to a migrant upon presentation of a complete file, which must include the mandatory orientation training certificate and skills orientation training certificate, if needed, a health certificate, an insurance certificate, the contract between the worker and the recruitment agency, the contract between employer and worker, and a receipt for payment of service fees to the recruitment agency. In addition, the labour desk set up at Kathmandu airport will certify that migrant workers leaving for foreign employment have followed the provisions laid out in the Foreign Employment Act. According to the act, licensed agencies are required to send migrant workers leaving for foreign employment through the national airport in Kathmandu. 29. About 80 per cent of migrants leaving for countries other than India use recruitment agencies. 8 Owing to the highly centralized recruitment system, the majority of potential migrants rely on informal labour recruiters for job placements. The risks involved include bogus recruitment agencies, potential migrants being overcharged and using moneylenders, who give loans to migrants at high interest rates. 30. The practice of charging fees to migrant workers for recruitment services renders them more vulnerable to human trafficking and forced labour. Deceptive and coercive recruitment practices increase the vulnerability of migrant workers, as they pay recruitment fees up front. As a result, they are less likely to report violations of the Foreign Employment Act, abuse or exploitation. In many cases, the situation of migrant workers amounts to debt bondage, forced labour or human trafficking. B. Role and regulation of recruitment agencies and sub-agents 31. The Special Rapporteur observed a very complex recruitment system, with a large number of actors operating in it. The government of Nepal has licensed more than 1,000 private recruitment agencies, which operate at the central level, with only 47 branch offices 8 See Ministry of Labour and Employment, “Labour migration for employment”. 7