A/HRC/44/42 or cultural difference. Restricting migrants from holding leadership positions in unions makes it less likely that the union will focus on migrant-prioritized issues and can make it more difficult to convince other migrants to join. 46. Some countries exclude large sectors dominated by migrant workers, such as agriculture, construction, seafood or domestic work, from existing legal protections for union activities. Other countries restrict trade union membership to workers in the formal sector, which excludes large sectors of migrant workers. Qatari law, for example, excludes domestic workers from its Labour Law and the protections it guarantees. 17 In Lebanon, domestic workers are excluded from the Labour Code, therefore migrant domestic workers cannot benefit from the protection of this law, including the right to engage in collective bargaining.18 In the United States, agricultural labourers and domestic workers are excluded from the federal National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees other workers the right to bargain collectively.19 Some categories of workers are also excluded from the enjoyment of the right to collective bargaining through judicial decisions. For instance, in Malaysia, a judicial decision in the paper industry ruled that migrant workers under fixed-term contracts could not benefit from the conditions agreed in collective agreements. 20 47. In an effort to attract companies that stand to benefit from weaker association rights for workers, many States also exclude export processing zones from national legislation protecting labour organization, which disproportionately restricts the association rights of migrant workers, who constitute a large part of the workforce in such zones. 21 For example, Pakistan exempts such zones from the application of national labour legislation, which recognizes the right of workers to organize. 22 48. Sometimes, legal barriers are a result of disharmony between a country’s labour and migration laws. Labour laws may not include any restrictions on organizing, but immigration law may permit employers or recruitment agencies to place restrictions on employment contracts. For example, in Malaysia, the work permits issued by the Immigration Department prohibit migrant workers from joining associations or trade unions as a condition of employment.23 2. Practical barriers 49. Apart from legal barriers, migrants’ life experience may affect how they can exercise their freedom of association. Migrants in an irregular situation or with particular vulnerabilities may be so focused on survival that organizing and other rights unrelated to basic services lose priority. Migrants who work long or irregular hours can find it difficult to carve out the time to leave the workplace to organize. 50. Certain migrant workers, like maritime workers or domestic workers, find it difficult to organize because of their isolated, informal workplaces. Migrant domestic workers, in particular, face significant obstacles to trade union membership, including a lack of time off to organize, difficulty in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement without one single large employer counterpart, and the spectre of gender-based violence and sexual harassment in their isolated workplaces. 24 The exemption of domestic work from laws protecting association rights is especially egregious considering that domestic work is a type of job with little government oversight. In its general comment No. 1 (2011) on migrant domestic workers, the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families affirmed that the right to organize and to engage in collective bargaining is essential for migrant domestic workers to express their needs and defend their rights, in particular through trade unions and labour organizations. The 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 8 Qatar, Labour Law, Law No. 14 of 2004, art. 3. ILO, Lebanon – CEACR, observation, Convention No. 98, published in 2019. United States of America, National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 151–169, sect. 2 (3). ILO, Malaysia – CEACR, observation, Convention No. 98, published in 2017. ILO, Trade Union Manual on Export Processing Zones, 2014, p. 15. European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies, Labour rights in Export Processing Zones with a focus on GSP+ beneficiary countries, 2017, p. 6. See www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:50002:0::NO:50002:P50002_COMPLAINT_TEXT_ ID:2911366, sect. 1048. ILO, Dominican Republic – CEACR, direct request, Convention No. 189, published in 2019.