Vatican official considers situations of migrant women

(December 6, 2010) The Vatican office in charge of the pastoral care of migrants and travellers is urging the international community to pay more attention to the situation of migrant women. Archbishop Antonio Vegliò, the president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant Workers made the exhortation last week at an international forum organized by Caritas Internationalis in Saly, Senegal, western Africa. The Nov. 30-Dec. 2 forum discussed "The Feminine Face of Immigration." Archbishop Vegliò noted a few of the problems of migrant women such as their employment in illegal work without basic human rights and abuse in the domestic sphere. He said many are forced into prostitution, thus adding to a $12 billion racket, the third most profitable illegal business in the world after drug and arms trafficking. He noted that "about 4 million women are sold annually into prostitution and slavery, and almost 2 million minors between 5 and 15 are involved in sex trafficking." The majority of migrant women, he claimed, "do not have the support of a normal family; generally she is separated, divorced or a widow." Archbishop Vegliò lamented that “the international community does not yet pay sufficient attention to some basic questions" linked to women’s migration, particularly noting the lack of "universal laws" that address the special labour and health care needs of mothers. He said the Church "invites governments to review the politics and the norms that deal with the protection of basic rights, such as the fight against abuses in the workplace, particularly sexual abuses, access to health services, shelter, family reunification and assistance to young mothers.