Migration and Gender
In Latin America and the Caribbean, girls and adolescent girls on the move are exposed to risks and violations of their human rights. They also face greater barriers to access rights and services.
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Human mobility trends in the Andean region and other parts of the world demonstrate that the presence of women, girls, adolescent girls and LGBTIQ+ adolescents living in vulnerable situations with specific needs is increasing day by day.
On the one hand, they are exposed to risks and violations of their human rights both in their country of origin and during their mobility process. Among the greatest risks are gender-based discrimination and violence, human trafficking, especially for sexual and labor exploitation, unemployment, poverty, mendicancy, malnutrition, lack of access to food or medicine, among others. These risks are exacerbated if girls and adolescent girls find themselves in an irregular migratory situation.
On the other hand, they face greater barriers to access sexual and reproductive health rights and services, as well as education, housing and work due to lack of documentation, xenophobia, cumbersome administrative procedures, difficulties in recognizing and homologating educational diplomas, lack of information and insecurity on transit routes.
Girls and adolescent girls represent around 20% of the female human mobility flow in the region (UNDP, 2020).
Unaccompanied and/or separated girls and adolescent girls are among the most vulnerable groups, including those traveling with young children (their own or siblings), pregnant girls, girls at risk or living on the street. Their needs tend to be more invisible because very little information is collected on the specific and varied needs and threats they face, as they are less likely to seek help and support.
Girls and adolescent girls represent around 20% of the female human mobility flow in the region (PNUD, 2020).
Unaccompanied and/or separated girls and adolescent girls are among the most vulnerable groups, including those traveling with young children (their own or siblings), pregnant girls, girls at risk or living on the street. Their needs tend to be more invisible because very little information is collected on the specific and varied needs and threats they face, as they are less likely to seek help and support.
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Español: Cartografías Afectivas
English: Cartografías Afectivas
Français: Cartografías Afectivas
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Challenges
The most common challenges around gender-based violence in contexts of human mobility include the lack of quality prevention and response services in dangerous, remote or border areas, and the lack of GBV prevention and response training and other specialized approaches for health and psychosocial service providers.
In places where programs are available, they are rarely designed to support people on the move and are often not designed for girls and adolescent girls. Similarly, the absence of support networks increases the risk of victimization in the face of different forms of gender violence, especially sexual violence and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
It is necessary to develop actions that recognize the differentiated needs of girls and adolescent girls, and the degree of affectation and impact that the different forms of gender violence have on them.
Solutions
Despite this hostile context, women, girls and adolescent girls on the move are agents of change and development for their families. For this reason, it is key to strengthen their participation and organization in decision-making spaces, as well as to enhance their resilience and their capacities as part of response and recovery strategies.
Resources
- Affective Cartographies “Migrating is like being born again”. Migrant, Displaced and Refugee Girls and Adolescent Girls In Latin America and the Caribbean. (English and Spanish).
This document highlights the main needs and challenges for girls and adolescent girls, and it documents the forms of violence to which adolescent girls are subjected in the process of migration and forced displacement.
Human mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean, as in other regions, increasingly includes women, girls, adolescent girls, and LGBTIQ+ adolescents facing specific vulnerabilities. This guide aims to shed light on this situation and provide guidelines for identification with a gender perspective.
The document proposes ten key points to strengthen protocols and guidelines, including:
- Collecting disaggregated and inclusive data.
- Building safe, inclusive spaces and promoting non-sexist language.
- Addressing the specific needs of Indigenous girls, girls with disabilities, and adolescents seeking income-generating opportunities.
- Guidance on LGBTIQ+ adolescents, adolescent mothers, and adolescents in early unions.
- Inter-institutional coordination, specialized training, and emotional care for teams.
- Adolescent girls and LGBTIQ+ adolescents unaccompanied or separated: An invisible migration? (English and Spanish).
A reflection on the different situations faced by unaccompanied or separated adolescent girls and LGBTIQ+ adolescents on the move who had no choice but to leave Venezuela and on how this affects them differently.
- Remote Psychosocial Support Model for Refugee and Migrant GBV Girl and Adolescent Girl Survivors (Spanish and English)
The Remote Psychosocial Support Model aims to establish the principles, criteria and methodological processes for the psychological and social support and accompaniment required by Venezuelan girls and adolescent girls on the move (e.g. migrant, forcibly displaced and refugee girls and adolescent girls) who have survived gender-based violence (GBV). This support will be provided remotely due to the containment measures for the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Tool guide for the Remote Psychosocial Support Model for Refugee and Migrant Girl and Adolescent Girl GBV Survivors (Spanish and English)
This practical Guide for the Support Model develops and describes the stages and moments of remote support; facilitates the understanding of the Model for its proper application in each country; provides psychosocial support according to the needs of Venezuelan GBV girl and adolescent girl survivors on the move; and elaborates and describes the tools for keeping a registry of the support.
- Training Manual of the remote psychosocial support model (Spanish and English)
The training process is based on the remote psychosocial support model and the support model guide that have been developed to provide an ideal response to migrant and refugee girls and adolescent girls on the move due to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela within the context of the social distancing measures adopted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Training objectives are introducing the remote psychosocial support model targeting girls and adolescent girls and facilitating its application with practical exercises and strengthening the capacities and skills of professionals and support teams to accompany psychosocial support processes for girl and adolescent girl GBV survivors using a remote support modality.
Working with Adolescent Girl GBV Survivors on the Move (Spanish English and Portuguese).
- Guide for Service Providers
- Facilitator’s Training Manual
The Guide and this Training Manual and accompanying Guide are designed for service providers in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) working with adolescent girls on the move who experience or are at risk of gender-based violence (GBV), with a particular focus on contexts of Venezuelan migration. The Guide complements existing guidance and resources and aim to strengthen GBV care and support in the region by addressing context-specific concerns.
- CEDAW’s Regional Consultation for Drafting a General Recommendation on Trafficking of Women and Girls in the context of global migration. (English and Spanish).
Under article 21 of the Convention, the Committee is mandated to develop general recommendations with the aim of clarifying the obligations of States parties to combat discrimination against women and girls in the current context.
Girls and adolescents, migrant, refugees and displaced in Latin America and the Caribbean An urgent reality in the care agenda (Spanish and English)
Girls and adolescents represent around 20% of the flow of female human mobility in the region (UNDP, 2020). This policy brief explores the situation faced by migrant, refugee, and displaced girls and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean from a human right, gender, generational and intercultural perspective.
Guide to support the social inclusion of refugee and migrant girls and adolescent girls in destination countries (English and Spanish)
The concept of social inclusion of people in situations of human mobility can be approached and interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, there is a more adaptive view of these people within the context of a given country, while on the other hand the view is more oriented towards transformation, which leads to changes in the destination countries. This guide opts for the latter: a transformative understanding that is considered to be more open and intercultural. This approach also provides a broader view as it avoids placing the responsibility exclusively on the person arriving in a given country, but rather implies effort on the part of society and the State as a whole.
This Guide provides a methodological process and practical tools for implementing personal and community support processes that encourage the social inclusion of refugee and migrant girls and adolescent girls in the destination country.
Guidelines for providing care and support to LGBTQI+ adolescents who have experienced GBV in mobility contexts (English and Spanish)
In 2020, UNICEF and HIAS developed a Remote Psychosocial Support Model for refugee and migrant girls and adolescents who have survived gender-based violence (GBV). This Model aims to establish principles and processes to provide psychological and social support to these girls and adolescents. Following its implementation in several countries in the region, the need for a specific methodology to address the needs of LGBTQ+ adolescents who are survivors of GBV in mobility contexts was identified.
To enhance this support, a specific Guide has been developed to accompany the Model, providing tools and strategies tailored to the needs of adolescents in mobility contexts. This initiative promotes a comprehensive and appropriate approach, ensuring that all LGBTQ+ adolescents in mobility receive the support they need while strengthening the skills of the professionals responsible for supporting LGBTQ+ adolescents who are survivors of GBV in mobility contexts.
