A/71/285 53. Trade agreements should reflect the human rights obligations of States, and agreements that undercut existing social protections should not b e ratified. Introducing a human rights-based approach to trade, which offers migrants’ representatives meaningful opportunities to comment during trade negotiations, would also acknowledge and empower migrants as key stakeholders in trade issues. The recent work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in support of a human rights impact assessment of the Continental Free Trade Area project demonstrates the value of such impact assessments in identifying and mitigating human rights violations, while pointing out opportunities for the upgrading of skills. 54. Trade agreements can also provide for a whole-of-government approach to monitoring and enforcing the agreement’s terms. Similarly, the inclusion of regulated recruitment systems and shared migration databases in trade agreements, as Viet Nam and Malaysia have done, can help coordinate mobility and ensure that low-wage workers are placed in employment that better matches both their skills and qualifications and the labour needs of employers. 55. States should not only sanction employers and others who engage in unethical behaviour, but also introduce incentive systems for improving working conditions, as are included in the trade agreement between the United States of America and Cambodia. The MERCOSUR and Ibero-American agreements have also strengthened the economic, cultural and social integration of migrants by enhancing the portability of social security and other acquired benefits. 56. Once the proper legal framework is in place, migrants will also have grea ter capacity to protect themselves in times of crisis and vulnerability, especially when they can directly access domestic courts and tribunals to address rights violations in the context of trade. Working with civil society, trade unions and the private s ector is essential to improving human rights and labour rights protections for migrants. 3. Developing more opportunities for safe, orderly and regular migration, in line with target 10.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, including labour mobility at all skill levels that is responsive to labour market needs, as well as family reunification and education-related migration opportunities 57. Large-scale mobility is inevitable and necessary for the growth and development of a globalized economy that de mands global production and a global workforce. Businesses and employers are keen to reduce costs and maximize profits. This frequently comes at a human cost, especially for migrants in an irregular situation, who are often constrained by circumstances to perform tasks at great financial, physical or even psychological cost to themselves (see A/HRC/26/35). Thus far, the efforts of States have been ineffective when it comes to monitoring and sanctioning businesses that exploit migrants for their cheap labour, often in dirty, difficult and dangerous working conditions. 58. Globally, in sectors where regulation is inadequate, such as domestic work, care, construction, agriculture, the garment industry, food processing and packaging, fisheries, extraction and hospitality, migrants unable to get work permits arrive irregularly and are vulnerable to economic exploitation, abuse and violence. States are well aware of this fact, but can do little to reduce the levels of exploitation, and employers take advantage of the fact that migrants rarely complain, mobilize or contest, owing to their lack of status, political capital or access to justice. 12/24 16-13509