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Interorganization committee of action « women’s rights, immigrants’ rights -  against double violence »

 

Our committee was organised in Paris and assembles groups and associations working against violence made to women, and for the rights of foreigners, migrants, and refugees. Our main concern is the struggle against double violence towards migrant women.

 

Women and foreigners, a double oppression

Europe is closing its frontiers, oppressing foreigners and making people become excluded person with no official document. Women are directly confronted to these laws and this politic, and they are twice oppressed, as women and as foreigners.

These laws develop the transaction of women and their sexual exploitation. These women, without ID, deprived of all rights, are exploited and vulnerable to all kinf of abuses. Asylum, they are less and less accepted, and in the case of woman, not legally recognised as victims of sexist persecutions, also for sexist persecutions against gays. Women thrown out of their country encounter great risks, especially if they are in opposition with family, social and religious standards of their native country. Then legislation on family regrouping and on granting visas in case of marriage reinforce inequalities between men and women and legalizes family and marriage dependency of women. When the residence title of a woman depends upon her wedding, it has dramatic consequences in case of violence by the husband. Husbands have all the power and their wives must give up their personal freedom or else they would lose their residency title and be brought back to the frontier. The european policy on family regrouping published the september 22nd 2003 harmonizes on a european scale this tutelage of women.

 

What we do, what we claim

 

In France we have challenged the ministry of internal affairs and have spread critical analysis of laws on immigration, and especially the latest one voted in october 2003 ( called the sarkozy Act, from the minister of the interior's name). This act is particularly restrictive concerning foreigners’ rights, but that introduces the possibility to renew a residency documents in case of a separation due to domestic violence. We act in a concrete manner with women facing these laws, by organizing solidarity.

We alert medias and we are making a « blank book » on double violence made upon migrant women, listing concrete examples of situations and struggles and a practical guide for action.

 

We demand :

- an independent status for foreign women, the recognition of individual rights.

- the keeping of residency documents for women subjected to violent acts or in case they are separated from their husband.

- the asylum right for women persecuted and discriminated as women, whatever may be the authors of these persecutions, or persecuted for their ideas or actions for the rights and freedom of women.

- social organization for women in difficulty with or without official documents ( violence, lack of home….)

- the abrogation of the system of laws of discriminatory personal status.

       

On the European scale, we propose :

- to put together our common experiences, our analysis and our informations, and to coordinate our actions

- to put pressure on institutions and the european states and to emplement policies

- to get a hold on international texts ( such as the CEDAW) and european texts ( such as the recommandations and resolutions of the assembly of the parliament and the european parliament) that are already alternatives to repressive and discriminatory measures taken in Europe

- to encourage feminist organizations and organizations of defence of foreigners and asylum seekers to include the struggle against the double oppression of women in their actions.

- to promote the expression and visibility of migrant women and refugees as political actresses.

- to develop the mutual struggle in immigration and emigration countries.

- to use our web site in order to make it a ressource site and a tool on a european scale, assembling analysis on european laws and their consequences towards migrating women, concrete testimonies on their day to day life faced with republic services, examples of actions towards empowerment.

 

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