A/HRC/37/32 widespread perceptions that persons with disabilities are unable to work or are eligible only for specific jobs, or for work in segregated environments. 19 24. Many persons with disabilities consequently rely on disability benefits (where they are offered). Many States have, however, gradually reduced social protection programmes, including those targeting persons with disabilities, through austerity measures, and are continuing to do so. Social support and assistance have been reduced, and eligibility criteria for social assistance have been tightened, while conditionalities have been increased and more severe sanctions for non-compliance introduced (CRPD/C/GBR/CO/1, para. 58). Measures of this type have significantly increased the risk of further marginalization of and poverty among persons with disabilities, and could drive some into hazardous and exploitative work. 25. The implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 8 and other relevant goals and targets must be informed by the human rights framework, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The respective treaty-monitoring bodies provide guidance on what the right to work and just and favourable conditions of work for persons with disabilities entail. According to key guidance in this area, workers with disabilities should not be segregated in sheltered workshops, should benefit from an accessible work environment and should not be denied reasonable accommodation, such as workplace adjustments or flexible working arrangements. States should also take steps to ensure that workers with disabilities enjoy equal remuneration for work of equal value and to eliminate wage discrimination due to a perceived reduced capacity for work.20 C. Migrants in an irregular situation 26. Although reliable data are not readily available, estimates indicate that around 10 to 15 per cent of all international migrants, or 30 million people, are in an irregular situation. Irregular migrants are often vulnerable for a number of reasons, many of which are related to their irregular situation. They are frequently not permitted to work, although, in practice, many do work irregularly and mostly in the informal sector. Irregular migrants are also at high risk of exploitation, particularly given that the sectors in which many work are often unprotected and unregulated, such as the construction, agriculture, food processing and fisheries industries. Their conditions of work are frequently harsh and inhumane, with little provision for occupational health and safety, while many experience abuse, including physical abuse and sexual and gender-based violence.21 27. As well as typically earning lower wages compared to nationals and other migrants in similar occupations, legal requirements may limit the ability of migrants in an irregular situation to seek alternative employment, and may actively tie them to a particular employer, which violates the right to freely choose or accept employment. These challenges may be compounded when such migrant workers feel unable to assert their rights and seek the protections available to other workers out of fear of detection and possible consequences.22 28. The implementation of the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development relating to the protection of labour rights should involve, in accordance with human rights norms and standards, the adoption of legal and practical measures to prevent discrimination against irregular migrants, the removal of laws and rules that make access to basic services conditional on the production of documents that irregular migrants cannot obtain, and ensuring that irregular migrants have full, non-discriminatory access to appropriate administrative and judicial remedies. It should also entail the development of 19 20 21 22 Netherlands Human Rights Institute, Annual status report 2016, “Poverty, social exclusion and human rights”. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 23 (2016) on the right to just and favourable conditions of work (E/C.12/GC/23), para. 47 (c). OHCHR, Behind closed doors: Protecting and promoting the human rights of migrant domestic workers in an irregular situation (New York and Geneva, 2015), p. 3. Ibid. 7