Meeting in Turin for their annual session, the foreign ministers of the Council of Europe member states on Friday 20 May adopted a new Recommendation on protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls, the previous one having not been revised since 1979.
Based on Council of Europe conventions such as the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or the Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, this text addresses a number of issues, including transit and reception facilities adapted to women and girls, their specific health needs and the establishment of gender-sensitive asylum policies.
Included in the “Council of Europe Action Plan on protecting vulnerable persons in the context of migration and asylum in Europe (2021-2025)”, the Recommendation also provides guidance on the needs of women in terms of social services, employment, education and participation so that public policies fully contribute to the integration and empowerment of migrant, refugee and asylum seeking women and girls.
The conclusions of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture are also included in the references of this Recommendation, the specific nature of which the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, welcomes.
“The war in Ukraine sadly shows the high risks faced by refugee women and girls”, she says.
Link to the Recommendation: https://aeur.eu/f/1rr (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)