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Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Convention is a significant tool in international efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness because it particularly affects women and girls with regard to nationality rights. The Convention requires full protection of women's equality in nationality matters. Nationality is the legal bond between a person and a State and is critical to ensuring full participation in society. Nationality is also essential to guaranteeing the exercise and enjoyment of other rights, including the right to enter and reside permanently in the territory of a State and to return to that State from abroad. Article 9 of the Convention is therefore essential to the enjoyment of the full range of human rights by women. While human rights are to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of nationality status, in practice nationality is frequently a prerequisite for the enjoyment of basic human rights. Without nationality, girls and women are subject to compounded discrimination as women and as non-nationals or stateless persons.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Committee acknowledges that, as a matter of international law, the authorities of the country of origin are primarily responsible for providing protection to the citizens, including ensuring that women enjoy their rights under the Convention, and that it is only when such protection is not available that international protection is invoked to protect the basic human rights that are seriously at risk. However, the Committee notes that the fact that a woman asylum seeker has not sought the protection of the State or made a complaint to the authorities before her departure from her country of origin should not prejudice her asylum claim, especially where violence against women is tolerated or there is a pattern of failure in responding to women's complaints of abuse. It would not be realistic to require her to have sought protection in advance of her flight. She may also lack confidence in the justice system and access to justice or fear abuse, harassment or retaliation for making such complaints.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Migrant women who live and work temporarily in another country should be permitted the same rights as men to have their spouses, partners and children join them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 1994
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Articles 1-3, 5 (a) and 15 establish an obligation on States parties to ensure that women are not discriminated against during the entire asylum process, beginning from the moment of arrival at the borders. Women asylum seekers are entitled to have their rights under the Convention respected; they are entitled to be treated in a non-discriminatory manner and with respect and dignity at all times during the asylum procedure and thereafter, including through the process of finding durable solutions once asylum status has been recognized by the receiving State. The receiving State has a responsibility towards women granted asylum status when it comes to helping them to, among other things, find proper accommodation, training and/or job opportunities, providing legal, medical, psychosocial support for victims of trauma and offering language classes and other measures facilitating their integration. In addition, women asylum seekers whose asylum applications are denied should be granted dignified and non-discriminatory return processes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Committee further considers that, under article 2 (d) of the Convention, States parties undertake to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with that obligation. That duty encompasses the obligation of States parties to protect women from being exposed to a real, personal and foreseeable risk of serious forms of discrimination against women, including gender-based violence, irrespective of whether such consequences would take place outside the territorial boundaries of the sending State party: if a State party takes a decision relating to a person within its jurisdiction, and the necessary and foreseeable consequence is that the person's basic rights under the Convention will be seriously at risk in another jurisdiction, the State party itself may be in violation of the Convention. The foreseeability of the consequence would mean that there was a present violation by the State party, even though the consequence would not occur until later.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The Committee recognizes that migrant women may be classified into various categories relating to the factors compelling migration, the purposes of migration and accompanying tenure of stay, the vulnerability to risk and abuse, and their status in the country to which they have migrated, and their eligibility for citizenship. The Committee also recognizes that these categories remain fluid and overlapping, and that therefore it is sometimes difficult to draw clear distinctions between the various categories. Thus, the scope of this general recommendation is limited to addressing the situations of the following categories of migrant women who, as workers, are in low-paid jobs, may be at high risk of abuse and discrimination and who may never acquire eligibility for permanent stay or citizenship, unlike professional migrant workers in the country of employment. As such, in many cases, they may not enjoy the protection of the law of the countries concerned, at either de jure or de facto levels. These categories of migrant women are: (a) Women migrant workers who migrate independently; (b) Women migrant workers who join their spouses or other members of their families who are also workers; (c) Undocumented women migrant workers who may fall into any of the above categories.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Gender-based violence affects women throughout their life cycle and, accordingly, references to women in the present document include girls. Such violence takes multiple forms, including acts or omissions intended or likely to cause or result in death or physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to women, threats of such acts, harassment, coercion and arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Gender-based violence against women is affected and often exacerbated by cultural, economic, ideological, technological, political, religious, social and environmental factors, as evidenced, among other things, in the contexts of displacement, migration, the increased globalization of economic activities, including global supply chains, the extractive and offshoring industry, militarization, foreign occupation, armed conflict, violent extremism and terrorism. Gender-based violence against women is also affected by political, economic and social crises, civil unrest, humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and the destruction or degradation of natural resources. Harmful practices and crimes against women human rights defenders, politicians, activists or journalists are also forms of gender-based violence against women affected by such cultural, ideological and political factors.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 and general recommendation No. 33, the Committee confirmed that discrimination against women was inextricably linked to other factors that affected their lives. The Committee, in its jurisprudence, has highlighted the fact that such factors include women’s ethnicity/race, indigenous or minority status, colour, socioeconomic status and/or caste, language, religion or belief, political opinion, national origin, marital status, maternity, parental status, age, urban or rural location, health status, disability, property ownership, being lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, illiteracy, seeking asylum, being a refugee, internally displaced or stateless, widowhood, migration status, heading households, living with HIV/AIDS, being deprived of liberty, and being in prostitution, as well as trafficking in women, situations of armed conflict, geographical remoteness and the stigmatization of women who fight for their rights, including human rights defenders. Accordingly, because women experience varying and intersecting forms of discrimination, which have an aggravating negative impact, the Committee acknowledges that gender-based violence may affect some women to different degrees, or in different ways, meaning that appropriate legal and policy responses are needed.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention, it is indicated that the obligations of States are to respect, protect and fulfil women’s rights to non-discrimination and the enjoyment of de jure and de facto equality. The scope of those obligations in relation to gender-based violence against women occurring in particular contexts is addressed in general recommendation No. 28 and other general recommendations, including general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers; general recommendation No. 27 (2010) on older women and the protection of their human rights; general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations; joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices; general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women; general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice; and general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women. Further details on the relevant elements of the general recommendations referred to herein may be found in those recommendations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CRC) 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- States parties, and in particular immigration and asylum officials, should be aware that women and girls may be fleeing their country of origin to avoid undergoing a harmful practice. Those officials should receive appropriate cultural, legal and gender-sensitive training on what steps need to be taken for the protection of such women and girls.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Gender sensitivity should be reflected in reception arrangements, taking into account the specific needs of victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, of trauma and torture or ill-treatment and of other particularly vulnerable groups of women and girls. Reception arrangements should also allow for the unity of the family as present within the territory, in particular in the context of reception centres. As a general rule, pregnant women and nursing mothers, who both have special needs, should not be detained. Where detention of women asylum seekers is unavoidable, separate facilities and materials are required to meet the specific hygiene needs of women. The use of female guards and warders should be promoted. All staff assigned to work with women detainees should receive training relating to the gender-specific needs and human rights of women. Pursuant to articles 1, 2, 5 (a) and 12 of the Convention, failure to address the specific needs of women in immigration detention and ensure the respectful treatment of detained women asylum seekers could constitute discrimination within the meaning of the Convention. Not least for the purposes of avoiding violence against women, separate facilities for male and female detainees are required, unless in family units, and alternatives to detention are to be made available.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Article 3 of the Convention against Torture prohibits removal of a person to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture. The Committee against Torture, in its general comment No. 2, has explicitly situated gender-based violence and abuse within the scope of the Convention against Torture. Articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights also encompass the obligation on States not to extradite, deport, expel or otherwise remove a person from their territory where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm in the country to which the person will, or may subsequently, be removed. The Human Rights Committee has further noted that the absolute prohibition of torture that is part of customary international law includes, as an essential corollary component, the prohibition of refoulement to a risk of torture, which entails the prohibition of any return of an individual where he or she would be exposed to a risk of torture, ill-treatment or arbitrary deprivation of life.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Gender-related forms of persecution are forms of persecution that are directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affect women disproportionately. The Committee observes that understanding the way in which women's rights are violated is critical to the identification of those forms of persecution. The Committee notes that violence against women that is a prohibited form of discrimination against women is one of the major forms of persecution experienced by women in the context of refugee status and asylum. Such violence, just as other gender-related forms of persecution, may breach specific provisions of the Convention. Such forms are recognized as legitimate grounds for international protection in law and in practice. They may include the threat of female genital mutilation, forced/early marriage, threat of violence and/or so-called "honour crimes", trafficking in women, acid attacks, rape and other forms of sexual assault, serious forms of domestic violence, the imposition of the death penalty or other physical punishments existing in discriminatory justice systems, forced sterilization, political or religious persecution for holding feminist or other views and the persecutory consequences of failing to conform to gender-prescribed social norms and mores or for claiming their rights under the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- There are many reasons why women are compelled to leave their homes and seek asylum in other countries. In addition to aggravated or cumulative forms of discrimination against women amounting to persecution, women experience violations of their rights throughout the displacement cycle. The Committee recognizes that displacement arising from armed conflict, gender-related persecution and other serious human rights violations that affect women compounds existing challenges to the elimination of discrimination against women. It also recognizes the persistence of other forms of exploitation concomitant with displacement, such as trafficking for purposes of sexual or labour exploitation, slavery and servitude. The Committee therefore reiterates the obligation of States parties to treat women with dignity and to respect, protect and fulfil their rights under the Convention at each stage of the displacement cycle, as well as in the enjoyment of durable solutions, including integration and/or resettlement in receiving States and/or voluntary repatriation to their State of origin.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- While noting that the definition of a refugee under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees provides criteria for the determination of refugee status in relation to persons who are explicitly covered under the Convention, the Committee notes that the present general recommendation covers all women in need of international protection under the Convention and seeks to apply the protection of the Convention to all women in the context of refugee status and asylum. However, the criteria provided by the definition of the word "refugee" in the 1951 Convention are important for the identification of women in need of international protection. At the same time, the Committee notes that regional refugee instruments and national laws have accepted and also expanded upon the definition given in the 1951 Convention to cover a range of persons in need of international protection for reasons of, variously, international or internal/non-international armed conflict and occupation, events seriously disturbing public order, serious human rights violations or generalized violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The Convention, as a gender-specific human rights instrument, covers other rights that are not explicitly mentioned therein, but that have an impact on the achievement of equality of women and men. As such, the Convention provides a gender-sensitive interpretation of human rights law and protects women from sex- and gender-based discrimination with regard to all the human rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments. Such application of the Convention was elaborated by the Committee in relation to the prohibition of violence against women as a form of discrimination against women in its general recommendation No. 19, in which it enumerated some of those protected rights, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The present general recommendation specifically addresses the application of the Convention to the right to asylum contained in article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principle of non-refoulement of refugees and asylum seekers in accordance with existing obligations under international refugee and human rights instruments and the right to nationality contained in article 9 of the Convention and the protection against statelessness.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Because of discrimination on the basis of sex and gender, women migrant workers may receive lower wages than do men, or experience non-payment of wages, payments that are delayed until departure, or transfer of wages into accounts that are inaccessible to them. For example, employers of domestic workers often deposit the worker's wages into an account in the employer's name. If a woman and her spouse both have worker status, her wages may be paid into an account in the name of her spouse. Workers in female-dominated sectors may not be paid for weekly days of rest or national holidays. Or, if they are heavily burdened by debt from recruitment fees, women migrant workers may not be able to leave abusive situations since they have no other way to repay those debts. Such violations may of course be faced by non-migrant local women in similar female-dominated jobs. However, non-migrant local women have better job mobility. They have the choice, however limited, of leaving an oppressive job situation and obtaining another job, whereas, in some countries, a woman migrant worker may become undocumented the minute she leaves her job. Non-migrant local women workers may, moreover, have some economic protection by way of family support if they are unemployed, but women migrant workers may not have such protection. Women migrant workers thus face hazards on the basis of sex and gender, as well as on the basis of their migrant status.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Women migrant workers may face a variety of human rights concerns when transiting through foreign countries. When travelling with an agent or escort, women migrants may be abandoned if the agent encounters problems in transit or upon arrival in the country of destination. Women are also vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse by agents and escorts when travelling in countries of transit.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- This general recommendation intends to contribute to the fulfilment of the obligations of States parties to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of women migrant workers, alongside the legal obligations contained in other treaties, the commitments made under the plans of action of world conferences and the important work of migration-focused treaty bodies, especially the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. While the Committee notes that the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families protects individuals, including migrant women, on the basis of their migration status, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women protects all women, including migrant women, against sex- and gender-based discrimination. While migration presents new opportunities for women and may be a means for their economic empowerment through wider participation, it may also place their human rights and security at risk. Hence, this general recommendation aims to elaborate the circumstances that contribute to the specific vulnerability of many women migrant workers and their experiences of sex- and gender-based discrimination as a cause and consequence of the violations of their human rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Trafficking may also occur when third-party countries seek to restrict migrant influxes out of conflict-affected areas through measures such as interdiction, expulsion or detention. Restrictive, sex-specific or discriminatory migration policies that limit opportunities for women and girls fleeing from conflict zones may heighten their vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Articles 1 to 3 of the Convention also support the right of women to benefit, on an equal basis with men, from naturalization for themselves and their spouses. Discrimination against women in this respect impedes the reduction of statelessness. The same holds true when women are unable to confer their nationality on their stateless spouses. It may also create further risks of statelessness in the case of children born out of such unions.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- Without status as nationals or citizens, stateless women and girls are often marginalized, deprived of the right to vote or stand for public office and may be denied access to public benefits, a choice of residence and free movement, in addition to access to various rights and benefits flowing from status as a national, including rights to education, health care, property or employment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- Article 9 (2) of the Convention provides that women are to have the same rights as men to acquire, retain or change their nationality, regardless of marriage and divorce and of what their husbands do with their own nationality. Women are also, according to the Convention, to transmit their nationality to their children under the same conditions as their husbands, whether they are in their own country or abroad.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that women's claims to asylum are regularly classified under the "social group" ground in the definition of a refugee, which may reinforce the stereotyped notions of women as dependent victims. Article 5 of the Convention requires States parties to assess women's claims to asylum without prejudices and stereotyped notions of women that are based on the inferiority or superiority of either sex. Gender stereotyping affects the right of women to a fair and just asylum process and the asylum authorities must take precautions not to create standards that are based on preconceived notions of gender-based violence and persecution.28 In addition, women are active agents who play important roles as political leaders, members of Governments or opposition groups, journalists, human rights defenders and activists, lawyers and judges, among others. They are targeted on account of their political opinions and/or activities, including the expression of women's rights. Accordingly, article 7 of the Convention requires States parties to take action to realize equality for women in political and public life. It may therefore be appropriate that women bring claims to asylum on gender-related persecution grounds or political, religious, racial and ethnic grounds, including in situations in which they were compelled to flee their country of origin owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or serious civil strife.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Committee is aware that, in cases in which persecution is perpetrated by non-State actors, receiving States have advanced the option of internal flight alternative, according to which a person is not at risk of persecution by non-State actors if he or she is relocated to a safe place within the State of origin. The Committee recalls that articles 2 (d) and (e) of the Convention require that States parties ensure that women are protected against discrimination generated by non-State actors and, in the context of a refugee woman, it observes that the essence of refugee status is to provide effective protection to the refugee woman. It also notes that, should the internal flight alternative be considered by receiving States, the option should be subject to strict requirements, such as the woman's ability to travel to the area concerned and gain admittance and settle there. States should also take into account gender-related aspects and risks in the assessment as to whether internal relocation is permissible. Difficulties faced by women in relocating to other parts of their countries of origin can include legal, cultural and/or social restrictions or prohibitions on women travelling or living alone, practical realities such as problems of securing accommodation, childcare and economic survival without family or community support, and risk of harassment and exploitation, including sexual exploitation and violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Gender-related claims to asylum may intersect with other proscribed grounds of discrimination, including age, race, ethnicity/nationality, religion, health, class, caste, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender and other status. The Committee is concerned that many asylum systems continue to treat the claims of women through the lens of male experiences, which can result in their claims to refugee status not being properly assessed or being rejected. Even though gender is not specifically referenced in the definition of a refugee given in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it can influence or dictate the type of persecution or harm suffered by women and the reasons for such treatment. The definition in the 1951 Convention, properly interpreted, covers gender-related claims to refugee status. It must be emphasized that asylum procedures that do not take into account the special situation or needs of women can impede a comprehensive determination of their claims. For example, asylum authorities may interview only the male "head of household", may not provide same-sex interviewers and interpreters to allow women to present their claims in a safe and gender-sensitive environment or may interview women asylum seekers in the presence of their husbands or male family members who may in fact be the source or sources of their complaints.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The provisions of the Convention prohibiting discrimination against women reinforce and complement the international legal protection regime for refugees and displaced and stateless women and girls in many settings, especially because explicit gender equality provisions are absent from relevant international agreements, notably the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Women migrant workers may be unable to save or transmit savings safely through regular channels due to isolation (for domestic workers), cumbersome procedures, language barriers, or high transaction costs. This is a great problem since in general they earn less than men. Women may further face familial obligations to remit all their earnings to their families to a degree that may not be expected of men. For example, single women may be expected to support even extended family members at home.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the Committee), affirming that migrant women, like all women, should not be discriminated against in any sphere of their life, decided at its thirty-second session (January 2005), pursuant to article 21 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (the Convention), to issue a general recommendation on some categories of women migrant workers who may be at risk of abuse and discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women migrant workers 2008, para. undefined
- Paragraph text
- The Committee, however, emphasizes that all categories of women migrants fall within the scope of the obligations of States parties to the Convention and must be protected against all forms of discrimination by the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2008
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph