A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 State officials to account when they have failed to protect those rights. It should ensure that laws and policies are consistent with the Declaration, ratify the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) and incorporate and implement the principle of free, prior and informed consent in matters concerning the lands and livelihoods of indigenous peoples. It should also confirm without delay a visit by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. Finally, and critically, it should routinely publish disaggregated poverty and income data on indigenous peoples, so that their situation is not obscured and policymakers can develop solutions responsive to their needs. Migrant workers 58. Estimates of the number of migrant workers in Malaysia generally range between 3 and 6 million, inclusive of both documented and undocumented workers.85 These workers play an outsized role in the Malaysian economy, which has a labour force of about 15.66 million, and have been a key factor in the competitiveness and economic success of Malaysia.86 They are excluded from official poverty figures, but their rates of poverty are safely assumed to be higher than the general population, given that they are disproportionately employed in low-skilled labour, are generally low-paid, excluded from social support and suffer wage theft.87 59. Migrant workers are set up for exploitation by a confluence of factors, including unscrupulous recruitment agents and employers, a harsh immigration policy and a lack of enforcement of labour protections. They are reportedly subjected to passport confiscation, low pay in violation of minimum wage laws, poor living conditions, punishment by fines, high recruitment fees, debts to recruitment agencies and employers, and salary deductions. Reports documenting abuses against migrant workers are consistent and numerous.88 60. Labour protections appear widely unenforced and the situation seems not to have improved in recent years. With legal status tied to employers, an exploited migrant worker faces an unenviable decision: remain on the job and continue to suffer, or quit and become an irregular worker with no recourse and few rights. Unlike in many countries, irregular workers in Malaysia cannot enforce their rights without risking detention and deportation. Officials acknowledged that workers were “scared” to report violations owing to fear of deportation and that following any proceedings to enforce their rights, “for sure, we will deport the foreigners”. 89 In 2018, the Government investigated and prosecuted fewer trafficking cases than in 2017 and the country was downgraded to the next-to-worst ranking by the United States of America in its trafficking in persons report in 2018 and 2019.90 The Government has failed to make public a report by the Independent Committee on the Management of Foreign Workers, allegedly because the Cabinet disagrees with its recommendations.91 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 See, for example, Wei San Loh and others, “Malaysia: estimating the number of foreign workers”, World Bank (March 2019), p. 44; Lee Hwok-Aun and Khor Yu Leng, “Counting migrant workers in Malaysia: a needlessly persisting conundrum”, Yusof Ishak Institute (April 2018); ILO, “Review of labour migration policy in Malaysia” (2016), p. 1. Department of Statistics, “Key statistics of labour force in Malaysia, June 2019”; World Bank, Immigration in Malaysia: Assessment of its Economic Effects, and a Review of the Policy and System, (2013), p. 168. Khazanah Research Institute, The State of Households 2018: Different Realities, p. 124. See, for example, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, “NHS rubber gloves made in Malaysian factories linked with forced labour”, The Guardian, 9 December 9, 2018; Fair Labor Association, “Assessing forced labor risks in the palm oil sector in Indonesia And Malaysia” (2018); Verité, Forced Labor in the Production of Electronic Goods in Malaysia: a Comprehensive Study of Scope and Characteristics (September 2014). Statement from a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Human Resources, 21 August 2019. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Reports, June 2018, p. 286, and June 2019, p. 306. “HR Ministry: no decision yet on report of Committee on Management of Foreign Workers”, Malay Mail, 14 June 2019. 13