Photo exhibition “Feel How Gender Shapes Migration”

Ambassador Muylle,
Ms. Finnerty,
Director-General [Swing],
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

A warm welcome to today’s opening of the photo exhibition “Feel How Gender Shapes Migration”. We are grateful to the International Organization for Migration who organized this exhibition in association with the Permanent Missions of Belgium and the United States of America and with the Interior Design faculty of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland.

We are presented here with much more than a photo exhibition. We are invited to an audio and visual experience of a migrant’s journey, that was created based on real-life scenarios. You will step into the shoes of different migrants, walk through camp settings, experience situations of forced displacement, trafficking, and labour migration. You will experience their stories, face their dilemmas and feel how gender has an impact on their lives.

From violent conflicts to earthquakes, hurricanes or flooding - human suffering has reached alarmingly high levels and women and girls are disproportionately affected. When crisis strikes, gender inequalities are often exacerbated – including levels of gender-based violence, exclusion from life-saving services and limited mobility due to physical insecurity. Add to this the structural economic disadvantages many women face and it will come as no surprise that half of today’s more than 240 million migrants and close to 20 million refugees are women. As you will see in the exhibition, gender has an impact on many aspects of migration, for example on the reasons people migrate, the paths they decide to take, the social and material support they receive along the way, the risks they face, the labour opportunities at their destinations, and the relations with the country of origin.

Migration can increase women’s access to education and economic resources, improving their autonomy and status. At the same time, female migrants and refugees face much greater vulnerabilities. Women work in less-regulated and less visible employment sectors. For example, 73.4% of international migrant domestic workers are women, as UNWOMEN estimates. As they work in their employers’ private homes, these women are often mistreated and abused and work long hours. Women migrants generally face greater risks of gender-based violence, including trafficking.

Geneva-based agencies are at the forefront of helping with the implementation of the SDGs related to female migrants. The IOM, for example, is a leader in this domain. It has long recognized the special needs of female migrants and its Gender Coordination Unit ensures that a gender perspective is factored into all IOM programmes and policies at Headquarters and in the field. It closely cooperates with partners at the interagency-level to raise awareness and combat discriminatory migration practices.

I am proud of the solutions “made in Geneva” that have already been generated. This is a topic that will keep us busy and we will be following closely on the thematic session on Labour Mobility which will take place here at the Palais des Nations from 12 to 13 October 2017, as part of the process leading up to the Global Compact for Migration which we expect to be signed in 2018.

This exhibition is a strong reminder to include women migrants into our strategic thinking. Women are leaders and agents of change. Implementing gender-sensitive migration policies will have a real benefit not only for women migrants but for the wider migrant community and the families staying behind.

I once more want to thank IOM, the Permanent Missions of Belgium and the United States as well as the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, for bringing this engaging exhibition to the Palais des Nations. I wish you all an inspiring interactive experience.

Thank you for being with us today.