No protections for undocumented women in EU directive on gender violence

While the EU agreed on its first-ever legislative arsenal to fight violence against women, the final agreement provides no guarantee that undocumented migrant women will be able to lodge a complaint without risking deportation.

Read the original story in French here.

After several months of intense negotiations, the European Commission, Parliament, and Council reached an agreement on Tuesday (6 February) on a directive to fight violence against women.

“This is a clear message throughout the Union that we take violence against women seriously,” Irish MEP and co-rapporteur Frances Fitzgerald (EPP) said following the trilogue.

The text sets out a series of measures to better protect women in Europe, notably against forced marriages, sexist cyber-harassment and genital mutilation.

However, despite the collective enthusiasm, one category of women seems to have been forgotten, according to PICUM, a Brussels-based NGO that promotes respect for the human rights of undocumented migrants in Europe.

These are women in precarious situations, undocumented, whether they are migrants or have obtained a temporary residence permit. Although there is no reliable estimate of the number of undocumented women in Europe, according to the PICUM they number in the tens of thousands.

“Undocumented women have no access to justice. As soon as they approach the authorities, their immigration status is going to be more important than meeting their needs as victims,” Louise Bonneau, advocacy officer at PICUM, told Euractiv.

When these women go to a police station, they run the risk of having their personal details sent to the immigration authorities, which could trigger deportation proceedings.

“Who would report violence and abuse if she risked being locked up and deported instead of receiving support and protection?” asks Bonneau.

EU agrees first law combatting violence against women

EU member countries and lawmakers reached an agreement on Tuesday (6 February) on the bloc’s first rules to tackle violence against women, the European Parliament and officials said.

Council rejects position of Parliament and Commission

To enable these women to lodge complaints without compromising their security, the European Commission’s initial proposal was to limit the transfer of their personal data between the competent authorities in the country concerned.

For its part, the European Parliament wanted to go even further, by completely banning the sharing of information on these women.

But the Council decided otherwise and rejected the Commission’s article 16.5, replacing it with what is known as a “recital”, a political recommendation that is not legally binding.

The Council therefore simply asks the member states to ensure that non-European victims “are not discouraged from lodging complaints and are treated in a non-discriminatory manner”.

There was a general outcry from human rights associations, including PICUM, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the European Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

“The Member States have shamefully failed to guarantee safe reporting mechanisms for undocumented migrant women, who risk deportation if they report violence,” said the IPPF in a press release.

During the negotiations, the member states justified their position by explaining that first and foremost they had to apply the “return” directive, which dates back to 2008 and is currently being revised, defining the conditions for the expulsion of an asylum seeker.

“Return is more important than the protection of women,” said Bonneau, adding that the Council’s position is also in contradiction with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which provides for rights and guarantees applying to everyone without discrimination.

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Undocumented migrants more vulnerable

Women accounted for 31% of asylum seekers in Europe in 2021, according to Le Monde. Female asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable, and more exposed to physical and sexual violence than the rest of the population.

A survey by the scientific journal The Lancet interviewed 273 female asylum seekers who had recently arrived in France. More than a quarter of them said that they had been subjected to sexual violence less than two years after arriving on French soil.

“The months following arrival in a European host country among women asylum seekers appear to be a period of high incidence of sexual violence,” wrote the authors of the study published in September.

This can be explained in particular by precarious reception conditions, with difficult access to housing, care and social services. Immigration routes are also risky and dangerous for women in exile.

“The passage through Libya, Morocco or Greece is a place where sexual violence is systematically practised, with smugglers and members of the security forces being the main perpetrators,” deplored the Paris-based Primo Lévi Centre in a 2022 report.

Given these figures, would an article in a European directive have protected these women? In any case, it would have been a “good first step”, according to Bonneau.

The Council’s position, which reflects the priorities of the member states, shows the tightening of access to the right of asylum throughout Europe.

“At the cost of excluding a whole group of women […] who are likely to suffer violence and abuse precisely because their status places them in a vulnerable situation,” PICUM said.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]