Press Release
UNIFEM Wins AGFUND's International Prize
Recognition for Women Migrant Workers' Issues
For immediate release
Date: 10 December 2003
Media Inquiries:
Oisika Chakrabarti, Media Specialist, UNIFEM Headquarters, +1 212 906-6506,
United Nations, Delhi — The UNIFEM Regional Programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia is the recipient of the International prize (first category) for Pioneering Development Projects of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND).
His Royal Highness Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, President of AGFUND presented the prize to UNIFEM at a formal ceremony today in New Delhi. Ms. Chandni Joshi, Regional Programme Director of UNIFEM's South Asia Regional Office received the prize on behalf of Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM.
In accepting the honour for UNIFEM, Ms. Joshi complimented AGFUND and the patronage of His Royal Highness, in promoting people-centred development. She traced UNIFEM's journey on its work on Migrant Women Workers in the Asia Pacific region, highlighting the factors that catalyzed the project and the features that have contributed to its strengths. She dedicated the prize to Migrant Women Workers of the region, attributing the success of the programme to the committed team of partners in various government departments, research institutions, media groups, non-governmental and civil society organizations. These, she said, have been instrumental, in not only providing visibility for critical human rights issues of migrant women workers, but also in facilitating policy and programmatic changes. Delineating other factors, which have contributed to its success, Ms. Joshi noted that the programme was formulated through a consultative and participatory process involving all stakeholders, using an integrated and holistic approach. The program, she said, sought to view the whole issue, not from a vulnerability perspective, but from a rights-based one, using an empowerment approach.
In Asia, women's economic migration has exceeded the numbers of male migrants. Yet, despite their economic and social contribution to their home and host countries, women face discrimination at every stage of the migration cycle and are vulnerable to multiple human rights violations.
UNIFEM's intra-regional programme, Empowering Women Migrant Workers, is active in the Philippines, Indonesia, Jordan and Nepal. It has focused on policy advocacy to develop new and strengthen existing legal protections for women migrant workers.
In Nepal, a major breakthrough was achieved through His Majesty's Government of Nepal incorporating the concerns of women migrant workers into the country's Tenth National Plan. Most significantly, the Government lifted the ban on female migration to the Gulf countries, in the organized sector. Early this year, the Minister of Labour and the Cabinet made a public commitment to promote safe migration through various measures. These include, making pre-departure orientation mandatory, creating a migrant worker welfare fund, establishing embassies in countries which have large numbers of Nepali migrant workers, classifying foreign employment as a service industry, establishing a labour desk at the Kathmandu Airport, and making efforts to arrive at bi-lateral agreements with receiving countries in the Gulf region. The Government has recently initiated efforts to review their Foreign Employment Act and develop a sex disaggregated national migration database.
In Jordan, focusing on women's rights, UNIFEM has facilitated efforts by the Ministry of Labour and NGOs to develop a Minimum Standard Contract for Migrant Domestic Workers. The contract, which is the first of its kind in Jordan, and a model for other countries in the region, was endorsed by the Ministry of Labour in January this year. The contract covers migrant worker's rights to life insurance, medical care, rest days, timely payment of wages, employers bearing the travel and work permit costs, end of service agreements, and the right to be treated in a humane way in compliance with international human rights standards. In addition, Jordan has amended the labour law to reformulate regulations for recruitment agencies with an emphasis on their obligations to the government, the employer and worker.
In Indonesia, where most migrant workers are women, UNIFEM is facilitating the incorporation of gender and rights-based inputs into the country's draft Migrant Workers Bill.
In the Philippines, UNIFEM is supporting a pilot project that highlights the importance of secure and productive investment by migrant workers, and facilitates the channelling of their savings into more lucrative and safe investments.
At the global level, UNIFEM is lobbying for a more effective application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to address the concerns of women migrant workers. To promote regional learning and cooperation on safe migration, UNIFEM, in collaboration with the Government of Indonesia has organized a high level meeting in Jakarta. Representatives of government and non-government organizations from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jordan, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka are attending this meeting.
UNIFEM will continue its work to promote safe migration for women migrant workers. It appeals to all sending and receiving countries to strengthen their efforts to promote and protect the rights of women migrant workers and to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
For further information on the conference and story/interview opportunities relating to the conference please contact: Chandni Joshi, Regional Program Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), chandni.joshi@undp.org
