DIIS Researcher receives grant from Open Society Foundation

DIIS' Senior Researcher Sine Plambech will lead the project "Women on the Move" which is concerned with the gendered aspects of irregular migration to Europe. Specifically, the attention is on women migrants in transit, and waiting in transit camps, along the African-European migration route, in Nigeria, Niger, Libya and Italy.

Several reports document the precarious life situations for women migrants in transit with regards to reproductive health. Some migrant women arrive to Europe, or are in transit while pregnant and they don’t have access to healthcare or birth control along the route. It is also a known fact that it is far more dangerous and deadly for women to cross the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean.

So far, much focus has been on how to prevent migration and campaign against migration in the women’s local communities, to little avail. This pilot project focuses on harm reduction and safe migration measures and aims at developing policy recommendations and new ways in which irregular women on the move can be better assisted.

DIIS is proud to be collaborating with Open Society Foundation, New York, on the "Women on the Move" project. Open Society Foundation is a strong global actor focusing on empowerment, policy change, and legal action, while seeking to address systemic exploitation, discrimination, and violence against migrants at every stage of their journey.

The project is headed by Senior Researcher at DIIS Sine Plambech. Second main researcher is Ahlam Chemlali, Programme Manager at DIGNITY (Danish Institute against Torture).