A/HRC/44/42 restrictions on non-citizen participation in a group.9 Some countries allow non-citizens to found an organization only in conjunction with a citizen. Others have laws that prohibit non-citizens from becoming leaders of civil society organizations; 10 limit the percentage of foreign staff allowed; place restrictions on receiving funds or opening bank accounts; or even prohibit the formation of certain types of organizations by non-citizens. Some countries restrict the right to freedom of association only to documented migrants. For example, Uganda has claimed that its constitutional guarantee of freedom of association, including the freedom to join trade unions, excludes undocumented migrants (CMW/C/UGA/CO/1, para. 36). 43. Any legislation or policy that gives law enforcement officers expanded ability to arrest and deport migrants will have a chilling effect on migrants’ ability to challenge authority by exercising their freedom of association rights, especially for migrants who are undocumented or in an irregular situation. Where migrants may be arbitrarily stopped and deported, they will refrain from taking any action that puts them on law enforcement’s radar, which includes organizing. In countries where migration status takes precedence over rights redress, undocumented workers may doubt whether the fruits of their association and advocacy are worth the risk. 44. Research shows that, across Europe, migrants have lower levels of unionization than native workers.11 While challenges arise in the collection of data on migrant workers’ trade union membership, since few unions keep disaggregated data on members’ migration status, it is believed that in some countries, migrant trade union membership level is extremely low. 12 This is problematic given the central importance of trade unions in protecting the rights of migrant workers through collective bargaining for fair wages and labour conditions. Trade unions may also aid migrants in creating a forum for discussion with employers, delivering safe migration training, acting as trusted information sources for migrants, encouraging bilateral cooperation, facilitating complaint processes or addressing recruitment agency abuses. 45. Migrants who wish to form or join trade unions may face additional limitations in law. Unfortunately, certain States bar migrants from joining trade unions, restrict migrants’ ability to form or hold office in a trade union or otherwise deny them full rights to engage in union activities. For example, in Qatar, although about 90 per cent of the total population are migrant workers,13 article 116 of the Labour Law permits only Qatari citizens to join workers committees and unions. 14 In Turkey, undocumented migrant workers are prohibited from joining trade unions (CMW/C/TUR/CO/1, para. 61). In Thailand, the Labour Relations Act bars non-citizens from forming unions and from membership in a union committee or subcommittee. 15 In Senegal, the Labour Code limits the right of migrant workers to serve as officials in trade unions, subject to a reciprocal agreement with the migrant worker’s country of origin (CMW/C/SEN/CO/1, para. 16). In Singapore, migrants may not act as an officer of or be employed by any trade union without prior ministerial approval. 16 Given that many migrants work in sectors that are almost entirely migrantstaffed, the prohibition on migrants’ forming or leading their own trade unions can act as a complete bar to unionization, as there may be no national union available to them. Even where migrants work in a sector in which there is a pre-existing union, it may not have the resources to reach out to migrants, given the additional outreach barriers, such as language 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 See, e.g., India, Foreigners Act, 1946, Act No. 31 of 1946, sect. 3 (2) (e) (vi); Timor Leste, Immigration and Asylum Act, Law No. 9/2003 of 2003, art. 11 (1) (c). See, e.g., Malaysia, Societies Act 1966, Act 335, as amended 1 January 2006, art. 13 (1) (a) and schedule 1 (2), which allows the Registrar to remove non-citizen officers of non-profit organizations and requires that officers of political parties be citizens. Torben Krings, “‘Unorganisable’? Migrant workers and trade union membership”, paper presented at the Industrial Relations in Europe Conference, Dublin, September 2014. In Malaysia, for example, fewer than 3 per cent of migrant workers are part of a union. See Nicholas Chung, “Bosses stopping migrant workers joining unions, says MTUC”, FMT News, 27 November 2019. Rebecca Ratcliffe, “Qatar law change hailed as milestone for migrant workers in World Cup run-up”, The Guardian, 6 September 2018. Qatar, Labour Law, Law No. 14 of 2014. Thailand, Labour Relations Act, B.E. 2518 (1975), sects. 88 and 101. Singapore, Trade Unions Act (Chapter 333), 31 July 2004, sects. 30 (3) and 31 (4). 7