From 3 to 7 November the UN regional meeting for Europe and Central Asia was held in preparation to the next Commission of the Status of Women will focus on 2015:20 years after the Beijing Platform for Action. The official meeting and NGO forum reviewed the position of women’s rights in the region.
Tiye International, the Umbrella NGO of National Associations of Black, Immigrant and Refugee Woman and Youth in the Netherlands, and WIDE+ member presented a statement on Violence against women and girls.
Their statement focuses particularly on the fragile position of undocumented women in the Netherlands.
http://www.tiye-international.org/wordpress/?page_id=49
In this respect Tiye’s concern is that experiences have shown that these women have become easy victims of several kinds of violence: domestic violence, trafficking, and violence within the sex industry. And because of their state they will not seek for help at judicial instances as the police. This because of the risk for being punished or sent back. Also access to health care is limited because of the same reason.
The statement also highlighted the need for the Dutch government to improve its policies targeted to women living with HIV/aids. The government reports that 871 people were diagnosed as HIV- positive in 2006, of which 166 infections were diagnosed in women. Most of these Dutch women are of non-Dutch origin, as the government already indicated, whereas most HIV infected men originate from the Netherlands.