Parliamentary Assembly

Draft resolution

1Europe is more than ever a destination for people seeking international protection due to wars and political turmoil or escaping from poverty and extreme hardship. This recent inflow adds to the numbers of migrants and refugees who have permanently settled in European countries, sometimes for several generations.

2Although the migration issue has become the focus of much media and political attention and has been heralded as a priority in the manifestos of all populist political forces, emphasis is all too often placed on dramatic events such as large-scale arrivals of migrants and refugees, on the actual or purported limited absorption capacity of, and financial burden on, some States and societies, or on the crisis of the migration management policy of the European Union.

3The Parliamentary Assembly believes that the political and public debate should pay greater attention to integration policies since, ultimately, the degree to which migrants and refugees become a resource and strength for the host country and are able to contribute to its cultural and economic richness depends on their level of integration.

4In addition, for integration policies to be successful, they must take into account the demographics of migration: while women used to represent a low proportion of the migrant inflow and often arrived in Europe through family reunification, today they migrate independently and in larger numbers. While they flee for a better life, a number of women face non-respect of their rights, including falling victim to trafficking, slavery and systematic sexual abuse. This makes it even more necessary for integration policies and measures to be gender-sensitive, in order to tackle the vulnerabilities of women throughout the migration process while at the same time empowering them as key actors and multipliers of integration.

5The Assembly reiterates its Resolution 2159 (2017) on protecting refugee women and girls from gender-based violence and recalls that several provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210, “Istanbul Convention”) specifically refer to migrant and refugee women. Regretting that migrant women are subjected to multiple and intersectional discrimination, the Assembly welcomes the inclusion, in the Council of Europe Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2023, of a strategic objective on Protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls.

6The Assembly underlines the importance of the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201) and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) and the need to effectively implement them in order to provide protection to migrant and refugee women and girls and to ensure that all the necessary conditions are in place for them to become a source of strength for our societies.

7Because of the role they play within their families and communities, the Assembly is convinced that investing in the integration of migrant and refugee women enables the creation of a solid basis for the inclusion and integration of future generations and for the development of peaceful, inclusive and cohesive societies based on shared values and respect for diversity. In this sense, the present resolution should be considered as complementary to Assembly Resolution 2176 (2017) “Integration of refugees in times of critical pressure: learning from recent experience and examples of best practice”.

8In the light of the above, the Assembly calls on the member States of the Council of Europe to:

8.1ensure gender sensitivity in the design, implementation, evaluation and follow-up of all integration policies for migrants and refugees;

8.2promote empowerment of migrant and refugee women by countering all forms of gender-based or gender-specific discrimination, including in access to education and work, and devise specific measures and programmes with a view to facilitating their access;

8.3ensure that the protection provided by legal treaties, notably the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings is well known to all those responsible for dealing with migrant women and that the treaties are efficiently implemented;

8.4raise migrant and refugee women’s awareness of their rights, including as regards access to education and work, participation in social, economic and cultural life, protection against gender-based and domestic violence, and access to justice;

8.5encourage and support initiatives aimed at empowering migrant and refugee women within their families, in their communities and in society at large, by developing their self-confidence and self-determination and by protecting women and girls from negative social control;

8.6provide migrant and refugee women with gender-specific information on the cultural norms and expectations of the host society, with a view to helping them to identify their role, their responsibilities and the opportunities available to them;

8.7provide opportunities for language training specifically targeted at women and available from an early stage after their arrival in the host country;

8.8provide opportunities for vocational training taking into account the skills and specific needs of migrant and refugee women;

8.9conduct information and awareness-raising activities targeting migrant and refugee women and men on gender equality and women’s rights as enshrined in the law of the host country;

8.10support and co-operate closely with civil society and all actors willing to contribute to migrant and refugee women’s integration and empowerment, including social partners and migrant and refugee women’s organisations;

8.11establish mechanisms to ensure the systematic consultation of organisations of migrant and refugee women, as well as those representing migrant and refugee women;

8.12integrate gender equality in the training of professionals and public officials at all levels involved in the elaboration and implementation of integration programmes;

8.13support mentoring programmes aimed at migrant and refugee women and support the use of positive role models.

9The Assembly recommends enhancing gender mainstreaming in its work relating to migration and refugees, and in the activities of the Parliamentary Campaign to End the Immigration Detention of Children and of the Parliamentary Network on Diaspora Policies.