A/HRC/24/43
of 2007 delineates the role of the Government in the management of overseas employment
through the regulation of licences for recruitment agencies. It also defines the process of
recruitment for overseas employment; sets minimum wage, labour contract and insurance
requirements; requires pre-departure training; and sets procedures for filing complaints.
However, it failed to cover employment of Nepali migrants in India. 34 In May 2012, the
Government of Nepal announced a policy of mandatory verification of migrant workers’
documents by Nepali missions abroad and that it was working with receiving-country
Governments to establish a minimum salary for Nepali migrant workers in Malaysia, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are amongst the largest employers of
Nepali workers.
50.
As business has become increasingly global, the international community has also
responded by adopting non-binding global frameworks that are addressed to business. For
example, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights offer companies guidance
on key labour and human rights issues relevant to contemporary forms of slavery. These
principles, which were endorsed by the Human Rights Council in June 2011, cover all
aspects of human rights, including reference to ILO core labour standards; and provide a
common, authoritative standard and reference point for mitigating the risk of negative
human rights impacts.
B.
Enforcement
51.
Alongside the development of new laws, many countries have also taken steps to
ensure that laws are effectively enforced. This is often more difficult, resource-intensive
and time-consuming than getting laws passed. However, a number of countries have taken
efforts to overcome challenges to successfully combat contemporary forms of slavery.
52.
In order to do so, some sending and receiving countries of migrant workers have
signed bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding. Argentina and Peru, for
example, recently established a Memorandum of Understanding on migrant domestic
workers (see A/HRC/15/20, para. 82), while a new one for the employment of Indonesian
maids was signed between the Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia in 2011 to update a
2006 agreement. This agreement requires an employment contract, sets recruitment fees,
provides for a weekly day of rest, allows maids to keep their passports and requires the
month-long training of Indonesian maids prior to entering Malaysia as workers. The
agreement lifted a two-year ban that Indonesia had imposed on migration to Malaysia for
domestic work.
53.
Some countries have developed national strategies or action plans against
contemporary forms of slavery. These initiatives can take various forms, including highlevel interministerial commissions or new departments within existing government
agencies. During her missions, the Special Rapporteur has encouraged countries to develop
national action plans that incorporate country-level efforts into wider regional and
international initiatives, which should be adapted to each country’s context, and incorporate
all relevant stakeholders. In-country research in Peru indicates that the Ministry of Labour’s
new National Plan to Combat Forced Labour for 2013–2017 includes many of these
elements, as well as a number of other advances. This new plan includes improved
definitions of forced labour; explicit acknowledgement of forced labour in the country; a
baseline study to address a lack of statistics; pilot interventions to combat forced labour;
and strategic, progressive and measurable goals. In Brazil, the National Commission for the
Eradication of Slave Labour was established in 2003 to bring representatives of the
34
14
See Narayan Manandhar and Jagnath Adhikari, Study of Issues on the Recruitment of Migrant Labour
in Nepal, submitted to the World Bank Country Office, Nepal (2010).
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