The Hands-on Approach of the IOM

In the very important task of improving the conditions of women migrant workers, the OIM takes the issue in a very hands-on manner. First of all, they have recognized that the only way for migrant workers-specially women because they are more vulnerable to being mistreated, to receive to proper protection of their rights when working abroad is to go the path of regime construction and gather all the international legislation around migrant’s rights. The IOM identifies itself as one of the international organizations with the responsibility to look forward for the ratification and the implementation within every state of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The organization also works closely with other countries in the introduction of national legislation and mechanism that protect not only the migrants who enter a country, but also those who leave a country. That has been the case in Asian Countries like Indonesia and the Philippines, African countries like Ethiopiaand European Countries like the UK, and some others in Eastern Europe. Since 1995 and the adoption of the IOM’s gender policy, the results in protection of migrant women have been more noticeable.

The organization has identified that the situation for women in their host countries is sometimes worrying, especially because they are often the target of violence and all kinds of abuses. The IOM has since many years organizing groups and reunions at the local level to give counseling to battered women so they can find a way to reach governmental help and a release from the abuse they put up with as migrant, disadvantaged women. From a more intergovernmental perspective, the organization is always seeking to influence national policymakers to change national legislation that better protect women migrant workers especially regarding human rights. Publications such as Working to Prevent and Address Violence against Women Migrant Workers, and Gender and Labour Migration in Asia seek to do that. This is quite important because the economic sectors employing migrant women are usually highly unregulated and so it is easy for women to be the targets of many types of abuse.

Source: International Organization for Migration (Southern Africa) Avaliable at: http://iom.org.za/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=43

Also, the organization works very actively to discourage the use of illegal migration channels since these often lead to human trafficking. The IOM has been very useful in the implementation of projects at national levels to provide training and assistance for the authorities in order to avoid this problem, and it has also worker hand-in-hand with civil society actors to prevent this issue. Furthermore, it has also created projects to work closely with the victims of human trafficking in their reintegration to normal life and in the dealing of the consequences left by the abuse (diseases, psychological problems, etc)

One aspect that diverges a lot from the general idea of migrant women is that they are only unskilled labor, but the organization recognizes the broad spectrum of the role of migrant women workers and that sometimes they are professionally trained. According to the Official document of the 18^th Summit of the Organization in 2003, they are also working to assure that not only skilled women are given fair treatment in the foreign countries they migrate to, but also that their expertise does not translate as a threat for the local labor markets.

References

International Organization for Migration, n.d. Taking Action Against Violence and Discrimination Affecting Migrant Women and Girls. Ginebra, Suiza. Available at: www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/published_docs/brochures_and_info_sheets/violence_against_migrant_women_factsheet.pdf