Madam Chair, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcomes the
opportunity to take the floor today to discuss the 'Enhanced
participation of women in development' and 'Equal participation of
women and men in decision-making processes at all levels'.
Specifically, I should like to refer to both topics with a
particular focus on 'Women in decision-making'.

Making a usually difficult decision lies at the very crux of
migration, particularly for women. For what reasons do they wish to
migrate? How do they wish to migrate? Whom should they trust? Even
though population movements are considered in some respect a
gender-neutral process, they are in reality gender-specific because
women and men migrate for different reasons, use different
channels, and have different experiences. The social context,
within which migration takes place, is strongly influenced by
gender and family relations. This, in turn, strongly influences
migration behaviour, and also affects the experiences men and women
undergo. Today, women migrants are recognized not only as
dependants or part of the family reunification process, or as
forced migrants in displacement situations, but rather as
independent agents and family supporters or strategists.

Women also account for almost half of the 200 million migrant
population globally. They migrate for a variety of reasons and are
influenced by various people on a number of levels; whether they
move voluntarily for individual reasons, to seek better, or often
any kind of employment opportunities, are fleeing political or
other persecution, or in order to reunite with their families or
husbands. For those who migrate voluntarily, work opportunities are
a major pulling factor. Women contribute a broad range of skills,
from manual labour such as fruit picking or textile manufacturing,
to employment that requires a particular higher skill set, such as
teaching or health care. Some migrate illegally, some rely on their
husbands or families for their visas, and others migrate through
legal work programmes. And an increasing number are trafficked.
Because female migrants often work in gender-segregated and
unregulated sectors of the economy, they are at a much higher risk
of gender discrimination, abuse and exploitation, human
trafficking, and violence. While there is a tendency to focus on
the vulnerability of migrant women, they should increasingly be
considered important agents for change and development.

What happens to women after the important decision to move is
made? Migration can have an empowering impact on women through the
physical and financial independence that they often enjoy abroad,
as well as the greater self-esteem gained by being perceived as
providers by their family and community. The principal links
between gender equality and migration include the contribution
migration can make to, firstly, the empowerment of women and,
secondly, to help promote gender equality by making use of newly
acquired coping skills as potential resources for change and
development. Empowered female role models encourage future
generations in areas key to development such as health and
education, family welfare, and the local environment. Lastly but
importantly, female migrants tend to remit a larger share of their
income that, in turn, can contribute to poverty reduction for their
families and communities. Because of this, IOM is working with
migrants, their community-based associations, local institutions
and governments to improve the development and poverty-reducing
aspects of remittances.

The recent Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed
Countries on Enhancing the Development Impact of Remittances hosted
by the Government of Benin, in cooperation with IOM and the Office
of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries,
Landlocked Developing Countries and the Small Island Developing
States, is an example of the commitment of governments,
international organizations, the private sector, diaspora
associations and NGOs to improve and reduce the costs of
remittances in order to enhance their development impact. IOM is
working with government officials in countries of origin to enhance
contributions made by migrant associations to development projects
in villages, towns and cities of origin. In this regard, IOM would
like to offer its assistance to all Ministers for Women's Issues to
target migrant women in their national policies including their
rural, regional and urban migration policies.

For all of the above reasons and needs, IOM focuses on managing
migration effectively so as to enhance its positive and reduce its
negative impacts. Well-informed choices by migrant women will help
them avoid the pitfalls of trafficking and will enable them to
succeed in their mobility, to achieve empowerment, and use their
great potential as agents for change and development - for their
self-esteem, their families, their countries of origin, as well as
for the receiving countries.

This coming May in New York, UNFPA and IOM will co-sponsor a
2-day expert workshop on female migrants which will explore the
challenges and opportunities of female migrants from different
perspectives. We believe that this workshop would be of interest to
the Commission, and I am therefore pleased to extend an invitation
to the Bureau of the Commission to attend the workshop.

Madame Chair,

The gender dimensions of international migration constitute an
important topic to be discussed at the General Assembly's
High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development,
which will take place on September 14-15. IOM attaches the greatest
importance to a successful High-Level Dialogue and is together with
Member States and relevant UN entities actively engaged in its
preparation.; IOM stands ready to support any activity that the
Commission on the Status of Women would recommend to adopt as its
contribution to the High-Level Dialogue.

Thank you.