ANKARA - HDP MP Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü submitted a question to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regarding the elimination of unjust suffering by identifying all aspects of the problems faced by refugee women in their working life.

 

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir MP Serpil Kemalbay Pekgözegü has submitted a question to the Presidency of the Assembly to investigation of the exploitation system caused by cheap labor, which is faced by refugee women and is not befitting human dignity.

 

‘Immigrants are exploited as cheap labor in Turkey’

 

In the question, drawing attention to the reasons that threaten the lives of individuals such as wars, ideological ethnic and religious conflicts in the society, famine, hunger, epidemics, and natural disasters, stated: “Immigrating to Turkey due to the need to live in better economic conditions and to seek opportunities to improve oneself, in addition to compulsory reasons. Women and girls make up almost half of the refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. Women and girls, who still make up nearly half of all immigrants in the world and have to live under the heaviest conditions in the social order in the society, in Turkey; Being exposed to violence, abuse, and rights violations in the informal sector, with low wages and long working hours, in bad working conditions, in which labor is intense, where labor is exploited by the capital, especially when occupational health and safety measures are not taken, and they have to work insecurely, their living conditions are getting worse. 

 

‘Immigrant women are exposed to ill-treatment and violence’

 

The question stated that migrant women working in the most insecured works are exposed to various forms of gender-based discrimination, and the following statements were made: “Lack of legal security and poverty make women immigrants dependent on their employers, and the relationship of dependency brings along ways of abuse and exploitation. The fact that domestic services are provided in households can be a 'shelter' for undocumented immigrants who fear deportation and are at higher risk of being detected in public workplaces, while also leading to very frequent cases of abuse. In a large number of studies on migrant women working in domestic services in Turkey, some of the domestic workers are found to be abused by their employers such as confiscating their passports, humiliating, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, not providing a place to sleep, separating food containers and dining places, closing the house, and discriminatory statements, so studies showed that they could be exposed to treatment and violence.”

 

‘Refugee women’s rights should be protected’

 

Finally, the following was pointed out in the question: “Migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking women, who are accepted as a vulnerable group in working life due to their status, need to be examined in terms of the problems they experience in working life and the inequalities they face in the field of occupational health. A parliamentary inquiry is urgently needed to develop national policies and practices to solve the problems faced by refugees and protect their rights, to investigate violations of rights in Repatriation Centers, and to punish officials who mistreat women.”