Countries urged to uphold women migrants' rights
MANILA, Philippines - Over 400 officials and members of local and international government agencies and non-government organizations on Tuesday urged migrant sending and receiving countries to uphold the rights of women migrants.
In a resolution released on Tuesday, the 436 participants of the recently concluded International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila, said governments should commit to creating fair and gender sensitive polices and practices.
According to the participants — some of whom came from the United Nations (UN) and International Labor Organization (ILO) — sending workers, especially women, into jobs in countries where their rights and dignity are “grossly violated" should be discouraged.
They said governments should promote “gender responsive provisions" in bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding in favor of women workers and at the same time provide alternatives for safe migration or jobs at home.
Domestic work should also be recognized as work in international and national laws, effectively recognizing their human, social, labor, and trade union rights like the other workers, according to the groups.
With the help of diplomatic and consular missions, restrictions on organizing and joining trade unions and migrant organizations should also be reduced, they said.
As for the undocumented migrants, the participants said destination countries should create mechanisms to regulate such happenings. They also urged to these nations to stop deporting unaccompanied and undocumented migrant children.
Also, they said cooperation between countries should be improved, ensuring that anti-trafficking laws are “rights-based, gender-sensitive and in conformity with the Palermo Protocol."
The Palermo Protocols are two protocols adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2000. These are the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
Moreover, the groups called for the ratification and full implementation of all relevant UN and ILO Conventions, particularly those concerning migration and gender equality.
Migrant women in numbers
According to Manpower Services, a global recruitment agency, more than 190 million people live outside their countries of birth, which is about three percent of the world’s population.
It also said that about one of every 35 people in the world is a migrant, with the number growing almost three percent yearly.
A 2006 report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women said women constitute about 50 percent of the total international migrant population.
In sending countries such as Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka, women account for about 60 to 80 percent of migrant workers.
According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 69 percent of the newly-deployed workers in 2002 were women.
Moreover, data from the National Statistics Office showed that the number of documented female overseas workers in the Philippines jumped from 379,000 in 1995 to 42.2 percent to 539,000 in 2004.
About 463,400 documented Filipinas worked abroad yearly from 1995 to 2004, most of whom were deployed to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan.- KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV
In a resolution released on Tuesday, the 436 participants of the recently concluded International Conference on Gender, Migration and Development held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Manila, said governments should commit to creating fair and gender sensitive polices and practices.
According to the participants — some of whom came from the United Nations (UN) and International Labor Organization (ILO) — sending workers, especially women, into jobs in countries where their rights and dignity are “grossly violated" should be discouraged.
They said governments should promote “gender responsive provisions" in bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding in favor of women workers and at the same time provide alternatives for safe migration or jobs at home.
Domestic work should also be recognized as work in international and national laws, effectively recognizing their human, social, labor, and trade union rights like the other workers, according to the groups.
With the help of diplomatic and consular missions, restrictions on organizing and joining trade unions and migrant organizations should also be reduced, they said.
As for the undocumented migrants, the participants said destination countries should create mechanisms to regulate such happenings. They also urged to these nations to stop deporting unaccompanied and undocumented migrant children.
Also, they said cooperation between countries should be improved, ensuring that anti-trafficking laws are “rights-based, gender-sensitive and in conformity with the Palermo Protocol."
The Palermo Protocols are two protocols adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2000. These are the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.
Moreover, the groups called for the ratification and full implementation of all relevant UN and ILO Conventions, particularly those concerning migration and gender equality.
Migrant women in numbers
According to Manpower Services, a global recruitment agency, more than 190 million people live outside their countries of birth, which is about three percent of the world’s population.
It also said that about one of every 35 people in the world is a migrant, with the number growing almost three percent yearly.
A 2006 report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women said women constitute about 50 percent of the total international migrant population.
In sending countries such as Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka, women account for about 60 to 80 percent of migrant workers.
According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, 69 percent of the newly-deployed workers in 2002 were women.
Moreover, data from the National Statistics Office showed that the number of documented female overseas workers in the Philippines jumped from 379,000 in 1995 to 42.2 percent to 539,000 in 2004.
About 463,400 documented Filipinas worked abroad yearly from 1995 to 2004, most of whom were deployed to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan.- KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV
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