Photo: UN Women/Catianne Tijerina
Women Refugees & Migrants
The issue
Today, around the world, people are on the move. They are migrating to escape poverty, improve their livelihood and opportunities, or escaping conflict and devastation in their own countries. Women represent almost half of the 244 million migrants and half of the 19.6 million refugees worldwide [1].
The remittances sent by women migrant workers improve the livelihood and health of their families and strengthen economies. In 2015, international migrants sent $432.6 billion in remittances to developing countries—nearly three times the amount of Official Development Assistance, which totaled at $131.6 billion [2].
Women are often the first responders in a crisis, and whether en route or in camps, in home countries or destination countries, they play a crucial role in caring for, sustaining and rebuilding their communities.
Yet, refugee and migrant women’s needs, priorities and voices are often missing from policies designed to protect and assist them.
Gendering documentation : A manual for & about women human rights defenders
A publication of the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, this manual is motivated by the courageous activism of people—and in particular, women—around the world who dare to resist, to fight for what we believe is right, and to put our lives on the line for justice, accountability and fairness.
Gendering Documentation frames and encourages documentation as a politically-motivated telling of women human rights defenders’ stories. Documentation of WHRDs’ experiences is a thread between our acts of resistance and the abuses we face. The chapters that follow go beyond existing human rights documentation manuals to provide a unique tool for capturing the specific nature of violations against WHRDs. The discussions that follow are grounded in a gender analysis that both challenges the social systems that restrict women’s rights, and also supports those who fight for those rights all over the world.
Click here to download the full Manual. http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GENDERING-DOCUMENTATION-FINAL-3-min.pdf
Click here to download the flyer with background information. http://www.defendingwomen-defendingrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/WHRD-GEN-DOC-flyer-1-side-3-2016.pdf
Извор: WUNRN – 18.09.2016
Joint statement by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, and William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration
16 September 2016 - On 19 September 2016, the General Assembly of the United Nations will bring together Heads of State and Government from across the world for the UN Summit for refugees and migrants. This is a historic opportunity to take a strategic and balanced view of the needs of millions of migrant women who are currently quietly fueling economies and sustaining growth, yet who are insufficiently protected under national laws and policies.
Women and girls comprise 48 per cent of all international migrants. There are some 118 million migrant women worldwide, contributing in total around $2.3 trillion to global productivity. Many have moved on their own to take up work. The opportunities open to them are primarily in low-skilled jobs and unregulated sectors, like agriculture, domestic work, services and the sex industry. For women in these jobs, there is little protection of their rights. Even where labour standards or regulations exist, their enforcement is more often taken up as an aspect of immigration control. On an everyday level, they may well have no access to social security or health coverage. If a migrant woman becomes pregnant, her consequent inability to work for a certain period of time may mean she loses her right to stay in that country.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 are fundamental to the United Nations' mandate and that of UNFPA.
Their foundation is the human dignity that is at the heart of human rights. The goals shine a spotlight on women and girls, reflecting the conviction, bolstered by solid evidence, that progress towards gender equality is central to sustainable development.
They affirm the principles of equality embodied in Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed in 1948. The proposed goal of universal health care and the target for sexual and reproductive health care services are integral to this vision of equality and thus to the SDGs ethos and framework.
Remarkable progress has been made towards the vision and on some of the specific targets set forth in the year 2000 Millennium Declaration, for example on girls' education and child survival. However, we must acknowledge pending shortcomings, notably in the targets set for better maternal health and in improving the welfare of young women. This balance sheet led in the discussions about the post 2015 agenda to a sharpened focus on the broad topic of sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
