F. whereas women immigrants are more exposed to abuse, both psychological and physical, either because of their financial and legal dependence or because women immigrants with no legal status are more susceptible to abuse and sexual exploitation in the workplace and to human traffickers; whereas, in the case of immigrant women whose status is irregular, this lack of legal status within the territory of the State where they reside particularly exposes them to the risk that their fundamental rights may be denied, and for the same reason they are more frequently victims of discrimination and violence in everyday life,

D. whereas women immigrants often encounter severe discrimination as individuals dependent on their spouse's legal status, on the basis of Directive 2003/86/EC (non-autonomous status, restricted access to the labour market, insecure residential status in the event of widowhood, divorce, etc.) and because of the mentality, negative stereotypes and practices brought with them from their countries of origin and prevalent in the host society as well; notes, moreover, that in some immigrant communities, they face critical problems such as marginalisation, forced marriages, female genital m ...[+++]utilation and so-called crimes of honour,

In response, development co-operation can play a key role by promoting the status of women, providing better facilities and educational material, and formulating analytical and statistical tools to assess the situation of girls.

To mainstream gender issues into all development cooperation policies, taking account of the particular status of women in the countries in question (their legal and actual status).

REFERRING to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conclusions of the 1993 Vienna Conference on Human Rights, the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the other instruments of international humanitarian law, the 1954 Convention relating to the status of stateless persons, the 19 ...[+++]51 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 New York Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.

Some specific groups are particularly vulnerable: divorced or separated women, new entrants to the labour market, those with irregular or precarious employment, women with disabilities, women from racial minorities, homosexuals and young men.