A/HRC/33/46 recruitment sector, unethical practices by unscrupulous recruiters, late payment or the withholding of payment by employers, and exorbitant charges for services can worsen situations of debt bondage. B. Main challenges in eradicating debt bondage 44. Despite the efforts of various countries to eradicate and prevent debt bondage, there are still challenges in implementing adequate measures in this regard, including: (a) The lack of adequate enforcement of legislation on debt bondage and on workers’ rights, and of other relevant legislation for the eradication of debt bondage, and in some countries the non-existence of specific legislation on debt bondage; (b) The lack of implementation or absence of legal measures that could prevent reprisals against victims of debt bondage when the criminal law is being used to punish perpetrators (e.g. a summary procedure in cases of debt bondage), particularly when victims and perpetrators are part of the same community; (c) The lack of regulatory frameworks and oversight in respect of recruitment agencies or brokers that impose excessive recruitment fees or provide advances to migrant workers leaving them indebted; (d) The limited access to justice and to effective remedies, which is often linked to the discrimination that bonded labourers suffer. Members of minority groups frequently continue to encounter discrimination, harassment and violence when seeking to access the justice system; (e) The ineffectiveness or non-existence of adequate mechanisms to identify bonded labourers, including the lack of ongoing identification programmes conducted in the formal and informal sectors and the lack of particular methods for identifying bonded labourers. Other challenges in this regard include the insufficient resources allocated for the purposes of identification; the non-proactive attitude by officials to seeking out and finding cases of debt bondage; the lack of data, which could be obtained through surveys to identify the number of persons in debt bondage and the sectors where it is the most prevalent; and the failure by the authorities to recognize new forms of debt bondage, such as seasonal debt bondage; (f) Deficiencies in providing protection and assistance to promote the recovery and reintegration of bonded labourers, particularly as regards ensuring that bonded labourers get an alternative means of earning a living under decent working conditions that will prevent them from relapsing into bondage. Furthermore, challenges remain regarding their access to recovery and reintegration programmes, particularly due to the fact that persons in debt bondage often do not have legal documents and due to the lack of adequate measures to ensure that such documents are obtained promptly; (g) The absence of measures to specifically target the factors that cause or facilitate debt bondage, such as poverty, illiteracy, lack of access to decent work, social exclusion and discrimination. Also, the absence of measures to address cultural and economic pressures in some countries (e.g. in relation to marriage) and to ensure access to education, health and social security; (h) Corruption, which has reduced the effectiveness of the identification, release and recovery of bonded labourers in some countries where debt bondage is prevalent. In some cases, the authorities are influenced by pressure from employers who occupy powerful positions in the community or belong to social elites. In that context, when employers are prosecuted they may be charged with infringing more lenient laws rather than the laws on debt bondage. 16 GE.16-11363