Mr. President, Distinguished Delegates,

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the scope and impact
of the activities that have been conducted over the last decade in
the area of migration and gender equality. This exercise would help
us identify some of our accomplishments and above all to refocus
our priorities.

In 1995, at Beijing, the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) challenged the international community on four
points. First, to acknowledge the phenomenon of the feminization of
migration; second, to improve the understanding, the knowledge as
well as to raise awareness of the needs of migrant women; third, to
sensitise the international community to the need for programmes
specifically designed for migrant women; and, lastly to ensure the
equal access of both migrant women and men to IOM services and
projects.

During the same year, IOM adopted a specific policy to reaffirm
and strengthen its commitment in regard to the protection of the
rights of migrant women.

Mr. President,

Since then, numerous efforts have been undertaken, with
encouraging results.  The Organization has not ceased to make
international actors and its Member States aware of the phenomenon
of the feminization of migration and to highlight the role of
migrant women as agents of sustainable development in both their
countries of origin and of destination.

This topic also received considerable attention during the
General Assembly's High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development
in September of 2006, where the question of the financial and
social contribution of diasporas to the development process,
concerns over the rights of migrant women, the human drama of
trafficking and the eradication of harmful traditional practices
such as female genital mutilation among migrant communities have
been raised and shared by many delegations participating in the
HLD.

Over the past thirteen years, IOM has continued to bring
together its partners and to share information and knowledge on the
evolving status of migrant women, their role in the fight against
poverty and on the need for a greater integration of migrant women
in national development processes.

The corollary of this advocacy is the improvement of research
and state of knowledge regarding women and migration, bearing in
mind the need for adequate data and information for policies and
programmes addressing the specific needs of migrant women. For
example, the reinforcement of research and the improvement in the
collection of data not only led to an increase in the awareness of
the important place of women in migration but also highlighted a
number of major issues for the development of the countries of
origin and destination.  Among other initiatives, IOM has in
this context recently collaborated with INSTRAW on a study on the
gender-specific dimension of remittances in Colombia and in the
future, hopes to intensify and systematize the pooling of expertise
and resources of our two organizations.

The socio-economic impact of female labour migration and its
consequences on the empowerment of women, especially on their
families and the children left behind remain under-documented
issues that must be further explored. How do these children grow up
without their mothers? What are the economic, social and more
importantly, the human costs of migration? What are its benefits
for this generation? These are crucial questions that should be
answered today if we want to be ready to face tomorrow's
challenges. Thus, in 2007, IOM conducted a study on seven Asian
countries that are experiencing a significant migration of women, a
study which will be available in the coming months.

Mr. President,

Since 1995, IOM has implemented a variety of projects that
specifically targeted migrant women. These projects were aimed
primarily at reducing their vulnerability in the migration process
by focusing on the fight against human trafficking, sexual violence
and on the protection of women migrant domestic workers or
others.

The Organization, in line with the definition of gender
mainstreaming adopted by the Economic and Social Council in 1997,
seeks to respond to the specific needs and expectations of both men
and women in the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of
all its projects and programs to ensure that migrant men and women
can meaningfully take part in and fully benefit from such projects
and programs.

We all can be proud of the work accomplished in the promotion of
the interests of female migrants and its development since the
Beijing Conference. The results obtained were encouraging and
should convince, if needed, governments and international agencies
of the strategic imperative of increasing and sustaining the
financial and human resources allocated to gender mainstreaming
efforts in development programs and policies.

Mr. President, thank you very much.