SEANF Paper on Migrant Workers (2) Labour Recruitment 54. The SEANF finds that private labour recruitment firms and brokers in both sending and receiving countries are involved in charging unjustifiably high recruitment fees. A lack of transparency in the recruitment process contributes to failures of governance and instances of corruption among those charged with regulating these firms. The SEANF discovered that high recruitment fees result in worker traveling to labour receiving countries in a status akin to debt bondage where some or almost all of their salaries are diverted to repaying brokers’ fees. 55. The SEANF finds such debt bondage arrangements lead to cases of labour trafficking in which migrant workers’ human rights are systematically violated. These arrangements occur in many economic sectors, including but not limited to agriculture, construction, domestic work, entertainment and sex work, light and heavy manufacturing, marine fishing, and restaurants and service establishments. The SEANF recommends that the Drafting Committee include a regional agreement on cooperation to investigate, charge and punish labour recruitment agents and companies found to be involved in trafficking of persons for labour and all other end forms of human trafficking. 56. The SEANF calls on the Drafting Committee to set out in the ASEAN Instrument that recruitment of migrant workers occurs in a professional, transparent, and accountable manner. The process of granting labour recruitment licenses shall be seriously and strictly managed, with government officials conducting continuous monitoring of the activities of migrant recruitment enterprises and taking prompt action to withdraw licenses of those enterprises which violate the national law and/or regional agreement(s), or which are judged not to have the mandate and capacity to effectively carry out their recruitment activities. Information on the legal status of labour recruitment agencies, including their mandate, responsibilities and authority should be publicized by the governments and NGOs in all the sending and receiving countries where those recruitment firms operate. 57. The SEANF recommends that the drafters of the ASEAN Instrument support the development of a fully transparent and effective regional agreement (or series of effective bilateral agreements) that sets clear guidelines for recruitment 30