A/HRC/29/46/Add.1 the system by adopting the Employment Permit System (EPS). EPS was introduced in July 2004 in the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and livestock industries and later expanded to the service and fishing industries in 2005 and 2006, respectively, at first through bilateral memorandums of understanding signed between the Republic of Korea and sending countries that set out the rights and duties of Governments and the status of and benefits for the workers. 30. The number of migrants in the Republic of Korea has since increased steadily and reached over 1.7 million in 2014. This increase is due in part to the introduction of the more flexible EPS. Most beneficiaries of EPS are from South-East Asian countries. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the System had allowed numerous foreign workers to come to the Republic of Korea and access employment opportunities, and had benefited the country’s businesses, which could recruit foreign workers through a flexible permit system for short- and medium-term periods that has contributed to the economic growth witnessed in recent years. 31. The Special Rapporteur has nonetheless been made aware that that the Government has introduced recent amendments to EPS, which in some cases require migrants to leave the country in order to be paid their severance settlement after finishing their employment contract in the Republic of Korea. 32. Although EPS recognizes migrant workers as workers under labour law, it places a number of restrictions on them, for example with regard to the number of times they can change workplace and employment and the maximum period of stay, denies them the right to family reunification and places extreme burdens on migrants seeking to change the type of visa. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about several restrictions and requirements within the System that increase the likelihood of migrant workers being subjected to human and labour rights abuses by their employers, who can, for example, terminate a migrant’s contract without having to justify the decision. Nonetheless, job centres do have direct authority to proceed with a change in the worker’s employment without the employer’s consent if the worker applies for a change of employment and if the reason for doing so does not originate with the employee. Such a change in employment would not be included in the total number of workplace changes permitted during the worker’s employment in the Republic of Korea. Nevertheless, the inability to freely change employment can easily place migrant workers in situations of labour exploitation. In addition, a change in employment can jeopardize a migrant’s chance of extending his or her initial contract in the Republic of Korea. 33. Further limitations contained in the System make it almost impossible for a migrant worker recruited under the scheme to be granted permanent or long-term residency, or even to convert to another type of visa, as EPS is limited to a maximum of 4 years and 10 months. 34. The Special Rapporteur notes that the International Labour Organization Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, in its 2013 observation on the Convention concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Education (No. 111),1 and the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants (A/HRC/4/24/Add.2) have pointed out the problems of those cases and recommended that the Government take legal measures for rectification of discrimination. 35. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that migrant workers in the Republic of Korea also experience discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, colour and country of 1 Available from www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:13100:0::NO:13100:P13100_COMMENT_ID:3150326. 9