Doc. 9306

2 January 2002

Right to family life for migrants and refugees

Opinion

Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men

Rapporteur: Ms Minodora Cliveti, Romania, Socialist Group

I.       Conclusions of the committee

The Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men fully supports the draft recommendation presented by the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography. However, the committee wishes to emphasise the need for women immigrants and refugees to receive equal treatment and be given the opportunity to work and follow vocational training in order acquire the independence they need to attain true dignity.

II.       Proposed amendments

      The committee therefore proposes to amend the draft recommendation by adding the following sub-paragraphs after sub-paragraph 11.iii.m:

Amendment No.1:

-       ensure that all women immigrants and refugees receive equal treatment;

Amendment No.2:

-       “organise specific vocational training schemes and organise obligatory language courses for women to enable them to integrate fully in the host country”;II

III.       Explanatory memorandum by Ms Cliveti, rapporteur

1.       First of all, I should like to thank the rapporteur, Ms Manuela Aguiar, for her excellent report.

2.       The subject of this report is, in fact, closely linked with the concerns of our committee, which are centred on equal opportunities for women and men in everyday life.

3.       As stated in the report that is being presented to you today, the family is the very nucleus of society and the opportunity of having a family life should be available to each and everyone, without discrimination of any kind.

4.       Unfortunately, most of the time, women find themselves in the most vulnerable situation in many sex discrimination cases related to the family reunion process. In some countries, women do not have the right to request family reunion, and most of those women are migrants or refugees.

5.       The 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol completely ignored the issue of family reunion. We deplore this. The right to family life is, therefore, dependent on asylum and immigration policies. This is why our committee also supports the recommendations made in sub-paragraphs 11.iii.a and b urging the member states to harmonise their policies in accordance with the values and principles of the Council of Europe.

6.       Women who arrive in a host country to be reunited with their families are dependent on them and often have no legal status. Language problems, the loneliness that surrounds them combined with a lack of education and vocational training put them in a very vulnerable position.

7.       This situation and a lack of integration policies in the host countries result in these women being totally excluded from society.

8.       We therefore consider that it is extremely important to encourage all the member states to ensure that all women immigrants and refugees receive equal treatment. This equal treatment must be determined in relation to the laws and regulations in force and everyday practice.

9.       Our member states should therefore ensure that men and women are given the same status and that the latter are given the opportunity of working and receiving vocational training that will enable them not only to take responsibility for themselves and acquire a certain independence, but also to attain true dignity.

Committee for report : Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography

Committee for opinion: Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men

Reference to committee: Doc. 8985 and Reference No. 2626 of 25 June 2001

Opinion approved by the committee on 23 October 2001