Migration Virtual Hub

Globalization has contributed to an increasing flow of migrant workers from countries with limited economic opportunities to fill gaps in nations with a dwindling labour supply. While globalization may foster the acceleration of trade and investment, it does not create an environment that protects migrant workers' economic, social and physical security. This is even more so when it comes to women migrant workers, whose numbers have been increasing, now constituting 50% or more of the migrant workforce in Asia and Latin America.

The Migration Virtual Hub is meant to serve as a ready reference on the country-specific legal protections that exist for women migrant workers in source and destination countries in the programmeme countries of UN Women’s Asia & Arab States Regional programmeme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines. In addition, destination countries and territories such as Bahrain, Hong Kong SAR, UAE, Singapore and Thailand were included. It sought to provide examples of and recommendations for gender sensitive and rights based legal measures that could be adopted to empower women migrant workers to effectively enjoy their rights.

The Migration Virtual Hub intends to serve as an aid to the enhancement of policy, programmemes and development actions aimed at increasing the protection of women migrant workers; advocating with regional bodies e.g. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Governments for appropriate protective measures for women migrant workers; assisting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Governments in reporting to the UN Committee on the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CE DAW); helping inform migrant civil society, including NGOs/migrant workers associations; and, developing guidelines for recruitment agencies and employers regarding minimum employment standards.

Other countries