A/71/285 59. Although some migrants, such as children, older persons, women travelling alone and migrants with disabilities, are vulnerable, the majority are not intrinsically vulnerable. On the contrary, they are most often incredibly resilient and courageous, making life-altering decisions on a regular basis. However, through policy and practice decisions that result in a lack of effective access to justice, States may create precarious conditions of legal status or regulatory frameworks that allow many to abuse and exploit migrants with impunity. For example, there are cases in which temporary migrant worker schemes do not provide for adequate oversight mechanisms; countries that rarely enforce the prohibition of recruitment fees, leading to situations of debt bondage, and rarely streamline their labour recruitment industry to ensure it effectively protects the rights of migrants; and labour inspection mechanisms that collaborate with immigration enforcement to expel undocumented migrants rather than try to enforce labour standards against the exploitative employers of such migrants. 60. Consequently, when speaking generally of migrants, the Special Rapporteur has come to use the word “precarious”, which refers more to the situation they are in, constructed as it often is, rather than the word “vulnerable”, which connotes more their intrinsic characteristics. 61. It is important that all States establish human rights-based, coherent and comprehensive national migration policies. These policies should address the “pull” factors for irregular migration, namely the unrecognized need for migrant labour in destination States, including for low-wage workers, and the corresponding need to open up a greater number of regular migration channels. 62. Little attention has been given to the impact of labour market dynamics in destination countries as pull factors for irregular migration. Member States should be weaned of their reliance on cheap labour in specific economic sectors and should ensure labour rights are upheld for all, including documented and undocumented migrants, through the full implementation of sanctions against employers and rigorous labour inspection. Long-term investment in the enforcement of labour standards and human rights for all workers, whatever their status, will allow States to respond to labour shortages in an efficient and regulated way, thus increasing global competitiveness and leading to less labour exploitation, less irregular migration, less migrant smuggling and less loss of life. 63. A well-organized migration policy based on mobility and human rights could also help States to enhance their development impact. In 2015, migrants sent approximately $432 billion in remittances. 7 Migrants who moved from countries with a low human development index to countries with a higher development index experienced, on average, a 15-fold increase in income, a doubling in education enrolment rates and a 16-fold reduction in child mortality. 8 If the human rights of migrants are effectively respected, protected and promoted within well -regulated migration processes, such development outcomes can be greatly enhanced. __________________ 7 8 16-13509 Dilip Ratha, Supriyo De, Sonia Plaza, Kirsten Schuettler, William Shaw, Hanspeter Wyss and Soonhwa Yi, “Migration and remittances: recent developments and outlook ”, Migration and Development Brief 26 (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2016). United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2009: Overcoming Barriers — Human Mobility and Development. Available from: http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/ files/reports/269/hdr_2009_en_complete.pdf. 13/24