The following information bases on the next reports:

• FIDH. ADC Memorial. Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan. “ Kyrgyzstan. Women and children from Kyrgyzstan affected by migration. An exacerbated vulnerability”. 2016. 
• FIDH-ADC “Memorial”-ILI / Invisible and exploited in Kazakhstan: the plight of Kyrgyz migrant workers and members of their families. 2018

What are specific challenges facing women in migration flows?

• The risk of violations of the rights of women and children is particularly high because they present a double vulnerability: as children and women, and as individuals affected by migration. This vulnerability is exacerbated for those who are considered as “undocumented”. Approximately 60% of Kyrgyz migrants do not have all the required documents to comply with current migration rules of countries of destination.

• Women and children are at particular risk of discrimination; psychological, physical, and sexual violence and abuse; or, labor or sexual exploitation.
• They may be subjected to exploitative conditions of work, inadequate living conditions, and access to health care – including access to safe sexual and reproductive health services including abortion for women and girls – and justice may be restricted.
• Violations of the rights may be committed by law enforcement representatives or non-state actors, including migrants’ employers, male Kyrgyz migrants, or citizens in the country of destination, especially in Russia where there is an increasing anti-migrant and xenophobic climate.
• Violence committed against Kyrgyz migrant women by Kyrgyz men - whether by a partner or strange countryman - is a worrying trend. Domestic violence is widespread in Kyrgyzstan. In countries of destination, women become even more vulnerable to abuse from their own partner as they are cut off from their family and communities. Difficult living conditions may exacerbate this violence.
• While an increasing number of unmarried women migrate from Kyrgyzstan, several cases of aggressions of Kyrgyz migrant women involved with non-Kyrgyz men perpetrated by young Kyrgyz men (the so-called “Kyrgyz patriots”) have been reported in Russia since the release of a video of the aggression of a young Kyrgyz woman, Sapargul, in 2012.
• In recent years, parents have been sending their  daughters aged from 12 to 17 to work as nannies for their Kyrgyz citizens who have moved to Kazakhstan or Russia. Generally, minors work as nannies for a year, during which time they do not attend school, even though they usually continue to be enrolled at a school in Kyrgyzstan. As a result, these girls do not receive a high-quality education, which leads to low-skilled jobs and the further violation of their rights due to their illiteracy and inability to protect their rights.
• Since the accession of Kyrgyzstan to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in August 2015, the procedures for migrants and members of their families to stay and work legally have been simplified, and access to health care and education for children has improved. However, insofar as the majority of Kyrgyz migrants are undocumented, and those who migrate legally often do not have a written employment contract, they cannot benefit from these rights, and therefore remain very vulnerable.
• Over the past few years, the scale and the duration of migration processes contributed to the exacerbation of practices violating the rights of women, and were characterized by the renewal and misappropriation of traditional and religious acts linked to marriage.
• Lack of information throughout the journey and upon arrival, lack of money, practices of corruption within migration police services, and increased discrimination against migrants in the society make it very difficult for Kyrgyz citizens to obtain this “regulated status”, which is a necessary condition for living and working legally in Kazakhstan, Russia.
• Kazakhstan is considered to be both a source and a destination of human trafficking victims, who are used for forced labour or sexual exploitation. Cases of sexual exploitation are generally recorded in large cities, while forced labour is more prevalent in the provinces.

- What are barriers for migrant women to access their human rights in the OSCE region?

• The main countries where Kyrgyz migrant workers work – Russia and Kazakhstan – are not partieson UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
• Kyrgyzstan did not ratify the ILO Migration Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention 1975 (No 143); the ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No 181); or the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No 189).
• Not effective Concept on State Migration Policy and the State Program non Regulating Migration Processes.
• Over the past few years, along the multiplication of legislative amendments on migration and the

exacerbation of a xenophobic climate, raids performed by law enforcements have become much more frequent, in particular in Moscow with the aim to discover illegal migrants and to extort them under the threat of arrest and deportation.

• Even when they are not directly infringing the rights of migrants, the police often fails to carry out independent, credible and impartial investigations to punish those who do.
• Most migrant workers lack information regarding the protection of their rights. They are not aware
• of the opportunity to apply for assistance to consular offices.
• According to international human rights standards, the detention of migrants for violations of immigration rules should never be automatic or mandatory. Other non-custodial measures should be prioritised. Detention should be a last resort and used only for the shortest period of time, and only when a less restrictive measure is not available. Judicial safeguards must be in place to ensure that such a detention is neither arbitrary nor indefinite.

- Which good practices and lessons learned exist in integrating a gender perspective in migration policies and practices?

• Cooperation with civil society, especially with the network  in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Migrants Workers  and with the “Central Asia on the Move” platform and other organizations working on migration issues.
• Lobby of developing  a gender- and child-sensitive approach in the “Concept on State Migration Policy until 2030”.

- How can the protection of women and girls in migration flows be strengthened?

To Kazakhstan and Russia:

• Ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families within the framework of integration processes and harmonization with the Eurasian Economic Union laws on migrant workers.
• Ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Kazakhstan signed the Protocol in 2010 but has not yet ratify it).
• Ratify the ILO Convention No. 97 of 1949 concerning Migration for Employment; the ILO Convention No. 143 of 1975 concerning Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions); and the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189).
• Strengthen controls on employers and ensure that those who employ migrant workers without contracts, or who do not respect the conditions set forth in contracts, face appropriate penalties.
• Plan labor inspections in households that employ domestic workers, in particular migrant women.
• Fight corruption among official representatives, in particular law enforcement officers, custom officers, and migration police officers.
• Conduct prompt, effective, independent, and impartial investigations into violations of migrants’ rights; and hold all perpetrators accountable.
• Establish free access to sexual and reproductive health, including antenatal care services for all women, regardless of their legal status.
• Prosecute the Kyrgyz citizens who abuse Kyrgyz female migrants in their territory.