CEDAW/C/2009/WP.1/R
(i) Promulgate and enforce laws and regulations that include adequate legal
remedies and complaints mechanisms, and put in place easily accessible
dispute resolution mechanisms, protecting both documented and
undocumented women migrant workers from discrimination or sex-based
exploitation and abuse;
(ii) Repeal or amend laws that prevent women migrant workers from using
the courts and other systems of redress. These include laws on loss of work
permit, which results in loss of earnings and possible deportation by
immigration authorities when a worker files a complaint of exploitation or
abuse and while pending investigation. States parties should introduce
flexibility into the process of changing employers or sponsors without
deportation in cases where workers complain of abuse;
(iii) Ensure that women migrant workers have access to legal assistance and
to the courts and regulatory systems charged with enforcing labour and
employment laws, including through free legal aid;
(iv) Provide temporary shelters for women migrant workers who wish to
leave abusive employers, husbands or other relatives and provide facilities for
safe accommodation during trial;
(d) Legal protection for the freedom of movement: States parties should
ensure that employers and recruiters do not confiscate or destroy travel or identity
documents belonging to women migrants. States parties should also take steps to
end the forced seclusion or locking in the homes of women migrant workers,
especially those working in domestic service. Police officers should be trained to
protect the rights of women migrant workers from such abuses (article 2 (e));
(e) Non-discriminatory family reunification schemes: States parties should
ensure that family reunification schemes for migrant workers are not directly or
indirectly discriminatory on the basis of sex (article 2 (f));
(f) Non-discriminatory residency regulations: when residency permits of
women migrant workers are premised on the sponsorship of an employer or spouse,
States parties should enact provisions relating to independent residency status.
Regulations should be made to allow for the legal stay of a woman who flees her
abusive employer or spouse or is fired for complaining about abuse (article 2 (f));
(g) Training and awareness-raising: States parties should provide mandatory
awareness-raising programmes concerning the rights of migrant women workers and
gender sensitivity training for relevant public and private recruitment agencies and
employers and relevant State employees, such as criminal justice officers, border
police, immigration authorities, border police and social service and health-care
providers (article 3);
(h) Monitoring systems: States parties should adopt regulations and design
monitoring systems to ensure that recruiting agents and employers respect the rights
of all women migrant workers. States parties should closely monitor recruiting
agencies and prosecute them for acts of violence, coercion, deception or exploitation
(article 2 (e));
(i) Access to services: States parties should ensure that linguistically and
culturally appropriate gender-sensitive services for women migrant workers are
available, including language and skills training programmes, emergency shelters,
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