an awareness-raising programmecould becarried out through formal and informal
educational programmes;
(vi) Encourage the media, information and communication sectors to contribute to
awareness-raising on migration issues, including on the contributions women
migrant workers make to the economy, women's vulnerability to exploitation and
discrimination and the various sites at which such exploitation occurs;
Regulations and monitoring systems,as follows:
(i) States parties should adopt regulations and design monitoring systems to ensure that
recruiting agents and employment agencies respectthe rights of all women migrant
workers. States parties should includein their legislation a comprehensivedefinition
ofirregular recruitment along with a provision on legal sanctions for breaches of the
law byrecruitmentagencies(article 2 (e));
(ji) States parties should also implement accreditation programmes to ensure good
practices amongrecruitment agencies(article 2 (e));
Health services: States parties should ensurethe provision of standardized and authentic
health certificatesif required by countries of destination and require prospective employers
to purchase medical insurance for women migrant workers. All required pre-departure
HIV/AIDStesting or pre-departure health examinations mustbe respectful of the human
rights of women migrants. Special attention should bepaid to voluntariness,the provision
offree or affordable services and to the problems ofstigmatization(articles 2 (f) and 12);
(e) Travel documents:States parties should ensure that women have equaland independent
accessto travel documents(article 2 (d));
(f) Legal and administrative assistance: States parties should ensure the availability of legal
assistance in connection with migration for work. For example, legal reviews should be
available to ensure that work contracts are valid and protect women'srights on a basis of
equality with men (articles 3 and 11);
(g) Safeguarding remittances of income: States parties should establish measures to
safeguard the remittances of women migrant workers and provide information and
assistance to womento accessformalfinancial institutions to send money homeand to
encourage them to participate in savings schemes(articles 3 and 11);
(h) Facilitating the right to return: States parties should ensure that women who wish to
return to their countries of origin are able to do so free of coercion and abuse(article 3);
(i) Services to womenuponreturn: States parties should design or oversee comprehensive
socio-economic,psychological and legal services aimedatfacilitating the reintegration of
women whohavereturned. They should monitor service providers to ensure that they do
not take advantageof the vulnerable position of womenreturning from work abroad, and
should have complaint mechanisms toprotect the womenagainstreprisals by recruiters,
employersor former spouses(articles 2 (c) and 3);
(j) Diplomatic and consular protection: States parties must properly train and supervise
their diplomatic and consular staff to ensure thattheyfulfil their role in protecting the
rights of women migrant workers abroad. Suchprotection shouldinclude quality support
servicesavailable to womenmigrants, including timely provision of interpreters, medical
care, counselling, legal aid and shelter when needed. WhereStates parties have specific
obligations under customary internationallaw ortreaties such as the Vienna Convention
on ConsularRelations, those obligations mustbe carried outin full in relation to women
migrant workers(article 3);
Responsibilities specific
bemenee)maetig
25. States parties through which migrant women travel should takeall
appropriate steps to ensurethattheir territories are not usedtofacilitate
the violation of the rights of women migrant workers. Measures that
may berequiredinclude,butare notlimitedto, the following:
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