Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Moore and Senator Nettle, move:

That the Senate—

(a)

recognises that:

(i)

a report from the United Nations Population Fund, State of the World Population 2006: A Passage to Hope, in relation to women and international migration, was released on 6 September 2006,

(ii)

women constitute almost half of all international migrants worldwide, that is 95 million or 49.6 per cent,

(iii)

in 2005, roughly half the world’s 12.7 million refugees were women,

(iv)

for many women, migration opens doors to a new world of greater equality and relief from oppression and discrimination that limit freedom and stunt potential,

(v)

in 2005 remittances by migrants to their country of origin were an estimated $US232 billion, larger than official development assistance and the second largest source of funding for developing countries after foreign direct investment,

(vi)

migrant women send a higher proportion of their earnings than men to families back home,

(vii)

migrant women often contribute to their home communities on their return, for instance through improved child health and lower mortality rates,

(viii)

the massive outflow of nurses, midwives and doctors from poorer to wealthier countries is creating health care crises in many of the poorer countries, exacerbated by massive health care needs such as very high rates of infectious disease,

(ix)

the intention to emigrate is especially high among health workers living in regions hardest hit by HIV/AIDS,

(x)

the rising demand for health care workers in richer countries because of their ageing populations will continue to pull such workers away from poorer countries,

(xi)

millions of female migrants face hazards ranging from the enslavement of trafficking to exploitation as domestic workers,

(xii)

the International Labour Organisation estimates that 2.45 million trafficking victims are toiling in exploitative conditions worldwide,

(xiii)

policies often discriminate against women and bar them from migrating legally, forcing them to work in sectors which render them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,

(xiv)

domestic workers, because of the private nature of their work, may be put in gross jeopardy through being assaulted, raped, overworked, denied pay, rest days, privacy and access to medical services, verbally or psychologically abused, or having their passports withheld,

(xv)

when armed conflict erupts, armed militias often target women and girls for rape, leaving many to contend with unwanted pregnancies, HIV infection, and reproductive illnesses and injury,

(xvi)

at any given time, 25 per cent of refugee women of child-bearing age are pregnant,

(xvii)

for refugees fleeing conflict, certain groups of women such as those who head households, ex-combatants, the elderly, disabled, widows, young mothers and unaccompanied adolescent girls, are more vulnerable and require special protection and support,

(xviii)

people should not be compelled to migrate because of inequality, insecurity, exclusion and limited opportunities in their home countries, and

(xix)

human rights of all migrants, including women, must be respected; and

(b)

encourages:

(i)

governments and multilateral institutions to establish, implement and enforce policies and measures that will protect migrant women from exploitation and abuse, and

(ii)

all efforts that help reduce poverty, bring about gender equality and enhance development, thereby reducing the ‘push’ factors that compel many migrants, particularly women, to leave their own countries, and at the same time helping achieve a more orderly migration program.

Question agreed to.