• 1 Sessions no. 138-140: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/SessionsList.aspx (...)
• 2 Sessions no. 73-74, all the concluding observations are available at: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/ (...)

1In 2023 the Human Rights Committee (HRC) held three sessions and considered the reports of Egypt, Panama, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan, Zambia, Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Cyprus, Lesotho, State of Palestine, Uganda, Iran, Kuwait, Republic of Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Venezuela1. It analyzed the problems of forced labour, freedom of association, child labour and discrimination. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) held two sessions and adopted the concluding observations in respect of Cambodia, China, China (Hong Kong), China (Macau), Lithuania, Panama, Portugal, Yemen, Armenia, Brazil, Chad, France, Qatar and the State of Palestine2. It considered among others the issues of informal labour, minimum wage, protection of trade unions, domestic workers and migrants’ rights. Provided the wide scope of the concluding observations, the review will be focused on a few points raised in the concluding observations: the protection of the right to a minimum wage; the right to collective bargaining; labour rights in the special economic zones and the issue of migrant work in Kuwait and Qatar.

• 3 V. Saraswathi, « Huroob, Runaway, Absconding: Trapping Migrants in Extreme Abuse », Migrant Rights, (...)
• 4 « Kuwait : Investigation Finds Many “Absconding” Cases Filed by Employers against Workers False, An (...)
• 5 D. Al Rayes, Laws without enforcement: the case of unskilled foreign workers in Kuwait, Thèse de do (...)
• 6 J. Davidson, « Troubling Freedom: Migration, Debt, and Modern Slavery », Migration Studies, no. 1, (...)

2Despite certain positive changes in the regulation of labour and the stay of migrant workers in Kuwait and Quatar, the majority of migrant workers in these countries still are legally bound to their employers in particular through the existence of the so called « absconding » criminal offense. Absconding charges are filed by employers against workers who absent themselves from work, however, there is little recognition of the reasons why an employee might do so and the ways in which these charges continue to be misused3. This year both the HRC (in respect of Kuweit) and the CESCR (in respect of Quatar) were concerned with this problem. The number of the charges has grown in the Covid period. Kuwait’s Public Authority for Manpower had even annulled all « absconding » cases lodged, acknowledging that many were falsely filed by employers4. « Absconding » is very linked with the widespread practice of retaining employees’ passports. Workers choose to leave their jobs, and sponsors, without their passports, and search for any type of illegal work, that is to say, work that is different from that which is specified in the contract5. As Davidson notes, research on migrant workers suggests that « running away from legal sponsors to work illegally in the informal economy is a strategy by which some migrants manage to secure greater personal freedom, and to pay off their debts and remit money to dependents, albeit under constant threat of detection and deportation »6.

• 7 « Protecting Migrant Workers in Kuwait | United Nations in Kuwait », 3 juillet 2020: https://kuwait (...)

3The United Nations in Kuwait has been actively working to protect migrant workers, acknowledging their vulnerability and the need for solidarity, action, humanitarian support, and respect for human rights. Efforts include developing guidelines and recommendations for dealing with migrants and mitigating socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, with many recommendations being adopted by the authorities7.

• 8 See, for example, UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2019: Special Economic Zones, 2019: https://uncta (...)
• 9 ILO, Promoting decent work and protecting fundamental principles and rights at work in export proce (...)

7Export processing zones (EPZs) have frequently been criticized for labour rights abuses. The authorities in many developing countries tended to lower or repeal labour or tax regulations in such zones creating precarious employment but making these places attractive for investors8. Common issues reported in such zones include suppression of independent trade unions and collective bargaining rights, poor occupational health and safety practices, excessive overtime expectations, and overall failure to adhere to International Labour Organization (ILO) core labour standards9.

• 10 Amnesty International, What I’m doing is not a crime, 2020: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/am (...)

8For example, recent in-depth studies of EPZs in Honduras, Kenya and Cambodia using interviews and site visits uncovered widespread allegations of forced overtime, union busting tactics, gender discrimination, and hazardous working environments10.

• 11 UN General Assembly, Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, A/71/385, 14 Septem (...)

9This issue was considered by various human rights bodies in the past. For example, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association stated in the report that « the States often weaken labour rights in order to attract investment, establishing special export processing zones where freedoms of peaceful assembly and of association are either sharply curtailed or explicitly prohibited. States may also use investor agreements as excuses to weaken labour standards »11.

• 12 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Concluding observations on the initial report of (...)

10The CESCR in its General comment no. 23 (2016) on the right to just and favourable conditions of work noted that « workers in special economic, free trade and export processing zones are often denied the right to just and favourable conditions of work through non-enforcement of labour legislation ». It also criticized Bangladesh in 2018 for very limited scope of the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (as amended up to 2013) which did not cover the export processing zones and urged to ensure that investment incentives do not compromise the labour and social protection of workers12.

• 13 A. Perulli, « La Déclaration de Philadelphie », Document de travail CSDLE « Massimo D’Antona », no. (...)

12The right to a decent minimum wage is the pain point of international labour law. Although the need to ensure decent minimum wage was one of the key reasons for the inclusion of the motto that labour is not a commodity to the ILO Constitution and the Declaration of Philadelphia13, none of the ILO standards sets a clear benchmark for establishing decent minimum wage. However, the article 7 of the ICSECR and the General comment no. 23 provide certain rules to establish the decency of wage. In particular, the wage should ensure to the workers « a decent living for themselves and their families ». Based on this norm the CESCR in 2023 considered the issue of minimum wages highlighting concerns about the adequacy of the minimum wage to ensure a decent standard of living for workers and their families, and the application of the minimum wage across different sectors and regions. It formulated the number of recommendations.