DRAFT CEDAW General recommendation on Trafficking in Women and Girls in the Context of Global Migration 21. In addition to differential treatment in the law, women and girls may be adversely impacted by economic and public policies that result in a lack of sustainable livelihood options and basic living standards. Social structures may limit women’s autonomy and access to key resources, including economic, land, political, educational, information and knowledge. Inequalities are manifested in women’s and girls’ lower access to education and vocational training opportunities, asset and land ownership, access to credit, women’s low participation in decision-making42, unequal pay, child/early and forced marriage, pervasiveness of patriarchal gender roles, the concentration of women in insecure and vulnerable work and their lack of decent work opportunities.43 These effects are compounded by gender-based violence against women and girls, including domestic violence, and marginalization. 22. Women at risk of being trafficked are more likely to be impoverished, uneducated, unemployed and/ or disempowered by political, economic, societal and family structures44, including being subjected to unequal treatment, carrying the burden of household and childcare responsibilities and are often subject to domestic violence. Facing such circumstances, some women and girls, who often lack access to sustainable livelihoods and/or have no access to information on trafficking and how traffickers operate, are susceptible to being lured by promises of a means of escape from impoverished circumstances. Additional push factors include persisting norms and stereotypes regarding male domination, the need to assert male control or power and enforce gender roles 45, male sexual entitlement, coercion and control which drive the demand for the gender-stereotyped exploitation of trafficking victims, as well as the lure of massive financial gains with few risks due to the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators. 23. The patriarchal norms and values, sometimes formalised in legislation, including family laws, facilitate trafficking for child/early and forced marriage. Families may agree to the indefinite or temporary “marriage” of their daughter in exchange for financial gains. So-called “women shortages” due to family planning policies in some countries has exacerbated this situation. 24. Women and girls living in rural and remote areas, indigenous women and girls, those with an irregular migration status, as well as stateless women and girls and those at risk of statelessness46 who experience social, political and economic exclusion face specific risks of being trafficked. In its general recommendation no. 34 (2016) on rural women, the Committee highlighted that the economic hardships of rural life including the negative effects of climate change, high levels of poverty, restricted access to State benefits, protection and services, resulting in, inter alia, low levels of education, and low awareness on how traffickers operate, render rural women especially vulnerable to exploitation, in particular in prostitution and as domestic workers and in conflict-affected regions.47 Stateless and undocumented women are obliged to use irregular channels of migration without access to diplomatic protection. Their situation of vulnerability is exacerbated by fear of detention pending determination of proof of identity and possible expulsion. Victims of trafficking, and their children, who have been deprived of their identity documents face similar risks. 25. Review statistical methodologies and conceptual frameworks related to data collection to include indicators that reflect States’ systemic responses to trafficking, including by: 42 Pp. 4, CEDAW Contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2017 HLPF). para. 27(a), CEDAW/C/KEN/CO/8; para. 25(a), CEDAW/C/THA/CO/6-7; para. 27(a), CEDAW/C/RWA/CO/7-9. 44 Para. 30(i), CEDAW/C/ITA/CO/7. 45 General recommendation No. 35 (2017) (CEDAW/C/GC/35), para. 19. 46 A/73/263 (2018), para. 29. 47 General recommendation No. 34 (2016) (CEDAW/C/GC/34), para. 26; CEDAW Contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2017 HLPF). 43 7