UN-INSTRAW

PRESS RELEASE

Women migrants must be better heard to make remittances more effective for development, urged a UN top official

July 10, 2007

[Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic] At the Global Forum on International Migration and Development (GFMD) in Brussels, Belgium, the Director of United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) Carmen Moreno called on representatives from private sector, trade unions, academia and governments to optimize the benefits of remittances for development by listening more carefully to migrant women.

“Money sent back home by migrants cannot be expected to help fight poverty in the developing world as long as women migrants who return to their home countries remain largely excluded from traditional banking systems, capacity-building opportunities and property ownership rights”, stated Carmen Moreno. “Persistent gender discrimination only brings development efforts down and generates more poverty for both men and women”, she continued during the international gathering hosted and organized by Belgium on 9, 10 and 11 July 2007.

“Who represents half of all remittance senders and the greater part of remittance recipients? Who is known to be wise financial managers? Who makes decisions about how money is spent and invested in the household? Women and again women!”, emphasized Moreno. “Unless the entire migration process is examined from a gender perspective, projects that aim to maximize the pros and reduce the cons of remittances are doomed to fail”, said UN-INSTRAW Director.

Press contacts: Mr. Laurent Duvillier or Ms. Valeria Vilardo  - Tel: 1 809-685-2111 - Cel: 1 809- 868.10.04

E-mail: vvilardo@un-instraw.org