OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR
HUMAN RIGHTS
Violence against women migrant workers
Commission on Human Rights Resolution: 2004/49
The Commission on Human Rights,
Recalling all previous resolutions on violence against women migrant workers adopted
by the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and the Commission on Human Rights, as well as the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women,
Reaffirming the provisions concerning women migrant workers contained in the
outcome documents of the World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in June 1993,
the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in September
1994, the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995, and the
World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in March 1995, and their
five-year reviews,
Welcoming the entry into force, on 29 September 2003 and 25 December 2003,
respectively, of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, supplementing the Convention, and acknowledging with appreciation the entry into
force of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of their Families on 1 July 2003,
Recalling the pertinent provisions that apply to women migrant workers in the Durban
Declaration and Programme of Action adopted in September 2001 by the World Conference
against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance
(A/CONF.189/12 and Corr.1),
Reaffirming the necessity of eliminating racial discrimination against migrants,
including migrant workers, in relation to issues such as employment, social services,
including education and health, as well as access to justice, and that their treatment must be in
accordance with international human rights instruments, free from racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance,
Noting the large numbers of women from developing countries and from some
countries with economies in transition who continue to venture forth to more affluent
countries in search of a living for themselves and their families as a consequence of, inter alia,
poverty, unemployment and other socio-economic conditions, and acknowledging the duty of
sending States to work for conditions that provide employment and security for their citizens,
Deeply concerned over the continuing reports of grave abuses and acts of violence
committed against the persons of women migrant workers by some employers in some host
countries as well as by traffickers in some countries,
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