2004 World survey on the role of women in development: women and international migration

This paper addresses both the opportunities for empowerment of migrant women and the challenges and vulnerabilities women face in the context of migration. It focuses on all types of international migration, legally authorised and irregular, including movements for family reunification and family formation, labour migration, refugee movements and human trafficking.

The report is structured as follows:

• linking gender equality and international migration
• migration, poverty reduction and sustainable development: preventing irregular flows of migrants; and migrants as a resource for poverty reduction and development
• family and labour migration
• refugees and displaced persons: protection; repatriation and reconstruction; resettlement
• human trafficking and smuggling
• gender roles and integration of migrant women: gender roles and family relations; economic integration; citizenship and civic participation
• health and HIV/AIDS.

The report sets out recommendations aimed at improving the situation of migrant, refugee and trafficked women. The recommendations include:

• ratification and implementation of all international legal instruments that promote and protect the rights of migrating women and girls
• review of national emigration and immigration laws and policies in order to identify discriminatory provisions that undermine the rights of migrant women
• take steps to reduce the cost of remittance transfers, e.g. by encouraging competition in the remittance transfer market; by providing financial literacy training to the migrant women who send remittances and to the women who receive remittances
• development of policies that enhance migrant, refugee and trafficked women’s employment opportunities, access to safe housing, education, language training in the host country, health care and other services
• education and communication programmes to inform migrant women of their rights and responsibilities
• improve the access of migrant women, including refugee women and displaced girls, to primary and reproductive health-care services, including programmes to address sexual and gender-based violence, trauma resulting from flight and conflict, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS
• give attention to the role of migrant women, including refugee and displaced women, in the reconstruction and development of post-conflict societies and ensure their full participation in decision-making processes
• research and data collection, disaggregated by sex and age, that improve understanding of the causes of female migration and its impact on women, their countries of origin and their countries of destination in order to provide a solid basis for the formulation of appropriate policies and programmes.