of movement is central to the realization of other human rights, such as the right to work. For people already impacted by pre-existing humanitarian emergencies (such as internally displaced persons, refugees or migrants), imposing restrictions on the freedom of movement denies them access to their livelihoods, social protection, safety and, for some, to asylum procedures.91 Examples of impacts on women: • The closure of international borders directly impacts the right to work for women who rely on open border travel and visa-free regimes for their livelihoods. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, many women from Central and Eastern Europe and from South Eastern Europe travelled to work in EU. For example, 80 per cent of the elder care workforce in Austria (65 000 people) are women who travel from Romania or Slovakia for several weeks at a time.92 An estimated 45 000 Moldovan women migrants work in the domestic care sector in Italy, often living with host families.93 Much of this work is low-paid and informal, without social protections. During the pandemic, many women have lost work, accommodation and the right to remain in the host country (when visa-free time limits expired). Likewise, border closures disrupt supply chains for women who engage in small-scale trade and among women smallholder farmers.94 Because women entrepreneurs generally run small enterprises, they are less able to absorb these economic shocks. • Border closures not only constrain economic opportunities for labour migrants, but also expose them to additional risks of human rights violations when they cannot return to their home countries. Labour migration rates are especially high from Central Asia, with a tendency toward an increasing proportion of women among migrants.95 When borders were closed in 2020, women migrants, and especially those with children, became stranded in destination and transit countries, and were then put at risk of poverty, food insecurity and exposure to the coronavirus when in unsafe living conditions.96 Border closures have also resulted in labour shortages, especially in the agricultural sector. Women’s rights groups, who have documented cases of exploitation of women labour migrants working on European farms before the coronavirus pandemic, have raised concerns that emergency 91 See: UN Secretary-General, “Policy Brief: COVID-19 and People on the Move”, June 2020, <https://unsdg.un.org/ sites/default/files/2020-06/SG-Policy-Brief-on-People-on-the-Move.pdf>. 92 Euractiv, “Virus Frontier Closures Hamper Cross-Border Workers”, 20 March 2020, <https://www.euractiv.com/ section/economy-jobs/news/virus-frontier-closures-hamper-cross-border-workers/>. 93 The Government of the Republic of Moldova, “Republic of Moldova Voluntary National Review, Progress Report, 2020”, 27 March 2020, p. 67, <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/26346VNR_2020_ Moldova_Report_English.pdf>. 94 World Bank, “Gender Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Policy Note”, 16 April 2020, <https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33622/Gender-Dimensions-of-the-COVID-19-Pandemic.pdf>. 95 See e.g.: UN Women, «Отчет по результатам исследования Влияние COVID-19 на положение женщин и мужчин в Кыргызской Республике Оперативный гендерный анализ по состоянию на 15 мая 2020 года, [Research Report, Impact of COVID-19 on the Situation of Women and Men in the Kyrgyz Republic, Rapid Gender Assessment as of May 15, 2020]», May 2020, p. 16, <https://kyrgyzstan.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/ RUS_Gender%20Rapid%20Assessment%20of%20COVID-19%20impact_May%202020_final.pdf>. 96 UN News, “Millions of Migrants across Russia, Central Asia, ‘Teetering on the Brink’, as UN Launches Urgent Appeal”, 15 May 2020, <https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1064182>. 31