A/HRC/45/8 Morocco employed in the agricultural sector, who were reportedly subjected to abusive and exploitative labour practices before the outbreak, has deteriorated.68 48. Other migrant workers may be forced to quarantine in crowded accommodation or workspaces, resulting in high levels of COVID-19 infection among them. This has reportedly been the case for some factory workers in Singapore, many of whom are from South Asian countries.69 49. For some migrants, loss of employment has led to the expiration of their visas or work permits, leaving them undocumented. Thousands of migrants worldwide have been stranded because of border closures, often in crowded transit centres. 70 Many have been deported or have had to return home after they lost their jobs. This includes hundreds of migrant workers from a number of African and Asian States who worked in different countries in the Middle East. 71 Despite loss of employment and increasing economic contstraints and deprivation, these migrant workers have often been excluded from or had limited access to government social protection schemes. 72 Consequently, many migrants have reportedly attempted to resume work abroad, despite travel restrictions. For example, anecdotal information suggests that many Cambodian citizens travelled back to Thailand. With border movement restrictions between both countries, they are vulnerable to trafficking in persons and exploitation by criminal groups.73 50. Loss of wages has wider implications for the families of migrants. Decline in migrant remittances, valued at $109 billion (equivalent to 72 per cent of total official development assistance in 2019) will likely contribute to an increase in poverty, child labour and child marriage.74 9. Increased susceptibility to criminal organizations 51. In light of these severe social and economic impacts, more people will be compelled to seek protection and/or livelihood opportunities outside of their countries of residence. However, the stricter border regimes imposed by many States create opportunities for human smugglers and traffickers to raise the cost of facilitating irregular migration, using increasingly precarious and dangerous routes. 75 The vulnerability of forcibly displaced individuals and economic migrants to debt bondage and forced labour may also increase in this context. 52. Rising unemployment, broken safety nets and a lack of access to income security and social protection will likely force more households to turn to predatory lenders for loans, accepting extremely high interest rates.76 Consequently, they might be forced to work under threat of violence or other forms of coercion to pay the loans off. Many may fall into debt bondage situations, which may trap families in an intergenerational cycle of poverty. 53. Evidence about such practices is still emerging. However, law enforcement agencies reported that criminal groups took advantage of the crisis at the early stages of the outbreak by engaging in loan-sharking, trafficking in persons, including for the purposes of sexual 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 OHCHR, “Spain: passing the buck on exploited migrant workers must end, says UN expert”, press release, 26 June 2020. Submission from Transient Workers Count Too, Singapore. UN News, “Migrants stranded ‘all over the world’ and at risk from coronavirus”, 7 May 2020. IOM, “IOM Ethiopia assists hundreds of returning COVID-19 affected migrants”, press release, 9 June 2020. Submission by Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans. Submission by Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Dilip Ratha and others, “COVID-19 crisis through a migration lens” (Washington, D.C., World Bank, April 2020). UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trafficking in persons: preliminary findings and messaging based on rapid stocktaking”. Submissions from Anti-Slavery International and from Rights Lab. 11