We know that a significant number of women cross borders every day for different reasons: poverty, lack of opportunities, environmental risk, natural disasters, persecution, gender-based violence and other reasons that affect their well-being or that of their families. In this sense, states and supporting organizations must understand the assistance and protection needs of the different groups that constitute migratory flows, as well as those of their family members that remain in the places of origin, and consider policies, regulations and programmes relevant to their needs as well as opportunities for growth.

Women face contexts of restrictions associated not only with irregular migration, but also with discrimination and gender-based violence. Women, regardless of their immigration status, may suffer double discrimination: because they are women and because they are migrants. It is also known that women are exposed to sexual, physical and psychological violence throughout the migration process.

Main risk factors for women at each stage of the migration process

Within the framework of the programme Prevention of Violence against Women in Central America that IOM executed in partnership with SICA and the Population Fund, a regional study on migrant women and violence was carried out by identifying the multiple risk factors for women in each of the stages of the migration process.

One of the issues common to all stages of the migration process was the lack of information on the risks of irregular migration, as well as regular migration options, and the potential dangers related to the operation of trafficking networks and human trafficking. Likewise, specific risks of each stage were identified:

  • In places of origin, limited access to documentation and violence against women as a factor of expulsion.
  • In transit locations, irregular migrant status limits access to services, especially health, which not only exposes them to sexual abuse, but the percentages of women sexually abused on the migration route are alarming. Irregular migration also entails traveling in inhumane circumstances.
  • In the places of destination, migrant women are often stigmatized, their working conditions are very precarious and the possibilities of regularizing their immigration status are slim.

Finally, many of the migrant women decide or are forced to return to their countries of origin, often to the same conditions that led to migration, being victims of stigmatization and discrimination.

Elements that facilitate the mainstreaming of the gender approach in migration policies at the regional level

How can we mainstream gender in regional policies, regulations and programmes on migration? The 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals) acts as a guide and frame of reference. SDG 5 on Gender Equality recalls that women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in all parts of the world, including migrant women, and goal 10.7 calls for facilitating migration and orderly mobility, safe and regular through the application of planned and well managed migration policies. Among its goals, the 2030 Agenda also includes the need to combat all forms of trafficking in women and girls, address violence and exploitation of women and girls during all stages of the migration cycle, protect rights and interests and improve the well-being, dignity and status of migrant domestic workers.

To implement this discourse in the region, synergistic relationships must be generated between decision makers, so that they are articulated more efficiently, sustainably, and construction plans and common objectives to protect the protection of the human rights of vulnerable populations, especially migrant women, throughout the migration cycle.

The three regional processes that cover the entire continent stand out: the South American Migration Conference, the Caribbean Migration Consultation and the Regional Migration Conference. The latter in 2017 approved the “Guidelines for the Care and Protection of Women in the context of Migration”. In addition, the South American Migration Conference held a regional training workshop to include “the gender approach in migration policies in South America”. In that space, the delegations of the member states established a series of recommendations to advance in the regional treatment of the gender approach in migration policies, particularly in the need to improve migration registration and information systems, conduct studies that identify vulnerabilities to which migrant women are exposed throughout the migration cycle, and the promotion of regional dialogue and exchange.

Within the framework of the System of Nations in some countries of the region, the United Nations Network on Migration, which follows from the Global Compact on Migration and which represents a space for dialogue between the agencies of the United Nations System, Governments and other relevant actors. It is a space to discuss migration, but in which it is of greatest important that issues relating to gender, and migrant women in particular, have a space.

Among the legal regulations, an important reference for the countries of Central America and the Caribbean Basin is the Regional Framework Law on Migration with a Human Rights approach, which has a chapter on migrant women, girls and adolescents. This framework law was approved in 2019 by the Forum of Presidents and Presidents of Legislative Powers of Central America and the Caribbean Basin (FOPREL) and involved the collaboration of organizations such as UNHCR, UN Women, ECLAC, UNICEF, Save The Children, OAS and IOM. The goal for the year 2020 is to continue with the monitoring and socialization of the framework law in the Parliaments of the Region and with the competent bodies.

We must ensure that gender is being mainstreamed in regional programmes focused on addressing the challenges and opportunities of migration and that synergistic relationships are generated between them. In this regard, the following stand out: 1) the Action Plan for the Comprehensive Care of Migration in the region (PAIM - SICA); 2) the Integral Development Plan for the Development of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador; 3) the United Nations Platform for the care of Venezuelan migrants and refugees; and 4) the Regional Integral Framework for Protection and Solutions (MIRPS) which is a concrete contribution to the Global Compact on Refugees.

IOM has created the Regional Hub of Knowledge on Migration, where you can access systematized information on the projects implemented to guide future actions, including the construction of policies and regulations on migration. This Hub has 6 components:

  • Data center
  • Good Practices
  • Virtual library
  • E-Campus (online training platform)
  • Knowledge Products
  • Communication on Migration (information on public advocacy)

Final notes

The application of restrictive policies to migration without opening options to regular migration and addressing the factors that generate irregular migration, only generate more vulnerabilities for migrants, and within them, to women and girls.

The link between migrant women and the development of a country is reflected in their contributions to the economy, with entrepreneurship and support to specific labor sectors, strengthening local economies, specialized and practical knowledge, and sending remittances, as well as cultural contributions, for their ability to form groups and "create community", maintaining and creating new links with other migrants and the destination country.

That is why it is necessary to continue working in favor of the construction of policies and regulatory frameworks on migration that adequately address the gender perspective under a holistic vision, and not only in the field of irregular migration, but also considering migrants as development actors. Migration opens up opportunities for women, for example, to achieve their economic autonomy or have access to education, but perhaps one of the greatest benefits is the possibility of empowering themselves, exercising their autonomy in various fields, and taking actions that support their life plan.

SDG 5 - IGUALDAD DE GÉNERO
SDG 10 - REDUCCIÓN DE LAS DESIGUALDADES