Review and Appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Outcome Document of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly (March 2005)
Review and appraisal by the Commission on the Status of Women with a special focus on the implementation at national level and identification of achievements, gaps and challenges. The Review is intended to provide an indication of areas where actions and initiatives, within the framework of the Platform for Action and the outcome of the special session (Beijing+5), are most crucial to further implementation

International Conference on Financing for Development (March 2002)
The International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) occurred in March 18-22, 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico. The conference formally accepted the Outcome Document that was negotiated at the final Preparatory Committee meeting in New York in January 2002 (the "Monterrey Consensus"), and the negotiations focused primarily on implementation of the Consensus. It can be said that this document plays a fundamental role in the whole process of development.

World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Sep 2001)
The Conference, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, issued a Declaration and established a Programme of Action destined to confront discrimination, racism and xenophobia and to ensure equal rights to all people before the law, including labour laws. The Declaration recognizes migrants and refugee populations among the priority groups; shows concern for the great vulnerability and discrimination that migrant women face; and urges the States to integrate gender perspective in all programmes oriented to combat racial discrimination and to visualize the contribution of migrant women to the economies of both the countries of origin and destination.

Millenium Declaration (Sep 2000)
The Millenium Declaration, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2000, sets as its objectives to promote equality among women and men, empowerment of women as an effective way to combat poverty, hunger and disease, and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable, among others. The Member States commit themselves to adopt measures to guarantee the respect and the protection of human rights of migrants, migrant workers and their families, eliminate acts of increasing racism and xenophobia in many societies and promote a greater harmony and tolerance in all societies.

Beijing+5 (June 2000)
In the Special Session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: Gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, held in June 2000, the progress of the implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action was reviewed and evaluated. In the Final Declaration, governments, regional and international organizations, among them the United Nations Organizations, international financial institutions and other actors, are urged to promote and protect the human rights of all women migrants, and apply those policies which embrace the specific needs of documented female migrant workers, and when necessary, resolve the existing inequalities with male migrants to guarantee gender equality.

Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing (Sep 1995)
The participating countries in the IV Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China, in September 1995, agreed to promote the objectives of equality, development and peace for all women worldwide, in the interest of all humankind. The Platform for Action makes reference to how the large-scale movement of migrants, refugees and displaced people, has had deep repercussions in the structures and well-being of the family unit, with unequal results for men and women. It recognizes the important economic role that women migrant workers play, including domestic workers, who contribute their remittance to the economy of their country of origin and participate in the labour force of the country of destination. The Platform of Action urges governments to take necessary measures to ensure the recognition of all human rights of women migrants, including women migrant workers.

Programme of Action of the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) in Copenhagen (March 1995)
In the Social Development Summit, celebrated in March 1995 in Copenhagen, governments reached a new consensus on the need to put people at the centre of development. The Programme of Action invites governments to ratify all the instruments related to the rights of working migrants, especially the “International Convention for the Protection of all Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families”. It asks governments of the countries of destination to offer documented migrants the same treatment as residents in terms of enjoying fundamental human rights and equal opportunity to: religious practices, working conditions, social security, participation in trade unions, access to health care, education, and other cultural services, equal access to the judiciary system and equal treatment before the law. The Programme of Action also urges the countries of origin, transition and destination to collaborate in the reduction of irregular migration, and for the human rights of all undocumented migrants to be respected and to prevent exploitation.

Declaration and Plan of Action of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Follow-up Cairo+5 and ICP at 10 (Sep 1994, June 1999 and Oct 2004)
In the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo, Egypt, in 1994, the 179 participating countries agreed to a Plan of Action for the following 20 years that recognizes the need to empower women, both as an objective in itself, and as a key element to improve the quality of life of all people.
Chapter Ten of the Plan of Action is dedicated to international migration flows and it points out to the following root causes of this large-scale phenomenon: international economic inequalities, poverty and environmental degradation, combined with the absence of peace and social security, human rights violations and the different levels of development of democratic and judiciary institutions. The Plan of Action highlights the potential benefits of migration from the inflow of remittances in the countries of origin to the inflow of human resources necessary to the countries of destination. The Plan of Action advises those governments of countries of origin that desire to stimulate the inflow of remittances and their productive use for development to: a) adopt sound exchange rates, and economic and monetary policies; b) provide banking facilities that will allow for safe and timely transfers of migrants’ funds; and c) promote the necessary conditions to increase domestic savings and channel them into productive investments. The Plan of Action urges the countries of origin to confront the root causes of migration, especially those related to poverty, so that remaining in one’s country is a viable option for all people. Finally, the Plan of Action exhorts countries to recognize to migrants all the fundamental human rights enclosed in the Declaration.

International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Dec 1990)
The Convention was approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1990 and it is the main instrument of the United Nations concerning migrant workers. The Convention recognizes that many migrant workers (both male and female) and their families find themselves unprotected under national legislation, it establishes international definitions of migrant workers and sets norms to handle specific human rights of all migrants, regardless of origin and legal status. Its objective is to protect the fundamental rights of migrants. It widens its scope far beyond the economic and employment dimensions, acknowledging migrants as social entities with families and consequent rights.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (1981)
This Convention that came into effect in 1981 condemns discrimination against women in all its forms and obliges the Member States to adopt policies and measures towards the elimination of discrimination against women. It ensures the equality of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women with regard to men in all areas: education, employment, remuneration, social security, marriage and maternity, health care and equality before the law.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec 1948)
The Declaration was adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1948. It establishes that all people without distinction of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion, social or national origin, economic status, birth or any other status, has a right to enjoy all the rights and fundamental freedoms found in the Declaration. Among them, the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State; the right to leave any country, including one’s own and to return to one’s country; the right to a nationality; to work, and to freely choose employment and to a dignified salary; to equal work for equal pay and the right to form and join trade unions.