CEDAW/C/2009/WP.1/R
Responsibilities specific to countries of transit
25. States parties through which migrant women travel should take all appropriate
steps to ensure that their territories are not used to facilitate the violation of the
rights of women migrant workers. Measures that may be required include, but are
not limited to, the following:
(a) Training, monitoring and supervision of Government agents: States
parties should ensure that their border police and immigration officials are
adequately trained, supervised and monitored for gender-sensitivity and
non-discriminatory practices when dealing with women migrants (article 2 (d));
(b) Protection against violations of migrant women workers’ rights that take
place under their jurisdiction: States parties should take active measures to prevent,
prosecute and punish all migration-related human rights violations that occur under
their jurisdiction, whether perpetrated by public authorities or private actors. States
parties should provide or facilitate services and assistance in situations where
women travelling with an agent or escort have been abandoned, make all attempts to
trace perpetrators and take legal action against them (articles 2 (c) and (e));
Responsibilities specific to countries of destination
26. States parties in countries where migrant women work should take all
appropriate measures to ensure non-discrimination and the equal rights of women
migrant workers, including in their own communities. Measures that may be
required include, but are not limited to, the following:
(a) Lifting of discriminatory bans or restrictions on immigration: States
parties should repeal outright bans and discriminatory restrictions on women’s
immigration. They should ensure that their visa schemes do not indirectly
discriminate against women by restricting permission to women migrant workers to
be employed in certain job categories where men predominate, or by excluding
certain female-dominated occupations from visa schemes. Further, they should lift
bans that prohibit women migrant workers from getting married to nationals or
permanent residents, becoming pregnant or securing independent housing
(article 2 (f));
(b) Legal protection for the rights of women migrant workers: States parties
should ensure that constitutional and civil law and labour codes provide to women
migrant workers the same rights and protection that are extended to all workers in
the country, including the right to organize and freely associate. They should ensure
that contracts for women migrant workers are legally valid. In particular, they
should ensure that occupations dominated by women migrant workers, such as
domestic work and some forms of entertainment, are protected by labour laws,
including wage and hour regulations, health and safety codes and holiday and
vacation leave regulations. The laws should include mechanisms for monitoring
workplace conditions of migrant women, especially in the kinds of jobs where they
dominate (articles 2 (a), (f) and 11);
(c) Access to remedies: States parties should ensure that women migrant
workers have the ability to access remedies when their rights are violated. Specific
measures include, but are not limited to, the following (articles 2 (c), (f) and 3):
08-63558
11