In October 2008, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Center in Colombo (Sri Lanka) released a report (PDF, 108 pages) on the prevalence of, and reasons for, HIV infection among female migrant workers from Asia. The report is titled HIV Vulnerabilities of Migrant Women: from Asia to the Arab States: Shifting from Silence, Stigma and Shame to Safe Mobility with Dignity, Equity and Justice. The UNDP focused on female migrant workers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka, who worked in the host countries of Bahrain, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates (especially within Dubai). After analyzing the socio-cultural, political and economic factors that made this population of women migrant workers vulnerable to HIV infection, researchers made eleven key findings (see pp. 11-17 in Overview section). The main conclusion is that female migrant workers are vulnerable to HIV during all stages of employment abroad: they face sexual assault, sexual exploitation and being trafficked into the commercial sex industry while applying for or being recruited into employment, or during transit between home countries and host countries. Once they reach their host countries, they also face sexual assault and sexual exploitation by employers, especially if they are employed as domestic workers. When they try to flee abusive employers, women migrant workers may be even more vulnerable to sexual assault and trafficking because losing employment automatically changes their status to “illegal” in some host countries.
Among other factors, UNDP found that the lack of information about HIV and its prevention (such as condom use), and the combination of high recruitment fees and low wages which may lead to sexual exploitation, all increased vulnerability. In addition, migrant workers face inadequate legal protections and remedies in host countries because they typically fall outside the host country’s labor laws, and the home country may have poorly staffed embassies or consulates. Finally, home countries’ protectionist policies may actually contribute to the problem; banning women from working abroad only serves to push worker migration underground.
For the full text of this report, please click here (PDF, 108 pages).
Compiled from: United Nations Development Program Regional Center in Colombo, HIV Vulnerabilities of Migrant Women: from Asia to the Arab States: Shifting from Silence, Stigma and Shame to Safe Mobility with Dignity, Equity and Justice (October 2008) (PDF, 108 pages).