The crisis caused by the pandemic lays bare the conditions of inequality and vulnerability of certain groups in society, especially when it comes to migrants. In Spain not only do migrant women contribute hugely to the societies, especially through care work, they have also been left out of major recovery measures.
The Spanish government has taken exceptional measures contained in Decree 463/2020 “state of alarm” to offer support to Spanish citizens that are faced by the impacts of the pandemic, including basic income shemes. So far, they exclude groups that have a fragile or no connection with legal citizenship to reside in Spain, such as people in an irregular situation residing in the country, asylum seekers, people who are interned in the Foreigners Internment Centers (CIEs), or people who work in the informal economy, such as migrant domestic workers, many of whom are domestic workers. At present, it is estimated that between 400,000 and 600,000 foreigners reside in Spain in an irregular administrative situation, many of them are migrant domestic workers.
A large coalition of people, civil society and other associations have been campaigning since March to DEMAND the approval of a ROYAL EMERGENCY DECREE FOR THE ADMINISTRATIVE REGULARIZATION OF FOREIGN PEOPLE IN SPAIN, which will guarantee that no human being is left out.
Spanish members of the WIDE+ migration working group have been actively promoting the demands of the campaign, including the network of Latin American and Carribean women in Spain, RED Latinas.
RED Latinas have been protesting in many ways the current exclusion by the Spanish government of migrant women. The campaign has been a major part of their activities in 2020, which are also organized to reflect and celebrate on the network’s 10 years of existence.
Read here important campaign documents in English:
RED latinas statement corona 2020
Public letter to the government for regularization signed by RED Latinas and many others
