the fundamental role played by migrant workers across the globe (low-skilled in particular) and, beyond that, their equal stance as human beings. A 2018 report by Co-Directors of the Migrant Workers Justice Initiative, who researched the causes behind unrecovered wage theft in Australia, shows the importance of denouncing cases of wage theft and provides evidence of the key role played by trade unions and community organisations in migrant workers’ ability to recover the entirety (30% of cases) or part of (up to 67% of cases) their unpaid wages. The psychological impact and potential stress deriving from going through a claim for redress of unpaid wages alone may indeed refrain migrant workers from taking action. Fear of losing one's own employment, the immigration status enjoyed in the country of destination, procedural costs and the uncertainty of outcomes are other factors that may prevent migrant workers from denouncing wrongdoings. Farbenblum and Berg, the authors of the report, affirm that: “there is substantial value in devoting resources to interventions that seek to encourage underpaid migrant workers to report and address underpayment and other forms of exploitation. […] There is a need for a new specialised forum through which migrant workers can seek to recover unpaid wages. The forum must be accessible to migrant workers including well-resourced individualised assistance to calculate wage claims, along with legal advice and representation. It must be able to deliver remedies swiftly, with presumptions in the worker’s favour in the absence of payslips or in the context of widespread patterns of fraudulent recording of wages or hours worked.”6 What is needed is thus a functioning and well-coordinated justice mechanism that supports migrant workers in redressing the injustices and wage thefts they have experienced. Shaping a new justice mechanism Justice mechanisms can be either formal or informal. Formal mechanisms are created by governments (e.g. through laws), operate as part of them and are funded by them. They can also be established through treaties among states and operate under the control of international organisations. Formal mechanisms generally work through official courts (e.g. litigation), but non-court mechanisms also exist (e.g. arbitration, mediation). They can be referred to as non-justice mechanisms. Informal justice mechanisms operate outside of the formal authority of the state, instead gaining power from community structures, and may be referred to as traditional or customary mechanisms, among others. Both formal and informal justice mechanisms respond to the fundamental principle of access to justice, which enables people to exercise their rights. Access to justice is enshrined in rule of law but is also interlinked with the protection and promotion of human rights and democracy as well as an essential component for human and societal development.7 Achieving justice for all is also a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). SDG no. 16, in fact, aims at “promoting the rule of law, strengthening institutions and increasing access to justice” 8 in an overarching effort to challenge lack of adequate rights protection and to remove barriers to opportunities and economic development, among others. Despite increased global efforts to achieve change, however, barriers to expedited justice mechanisms and failure to redress violations are still widespread across the globe. Access to justice is guaranteed through multiple components that include: first and foremost a legal framework and ad-hoc policies in line with international human rights standards, against which to uphold peoples’ rights; secondly, the development of “accessible, affordable, timely, effective, efficient, impartial, free of corruption, that are trusted 6 Farbenblum B. and Berg L., Wage Theft In Silence (2018) Migrant Workers Justice Initiative <https://static1.squarespace.com/static/593f6d9fe4fcb5c458624206/t/5bd26f620d9297e70989b27a/1540517748798/Wage+th eft+in+Silence+Report.pdf> 7 See for example: UNGA, Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels (30 November 2012) UN Doc A/RES/67/1 8 UN, Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform) <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg16> 2

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