“Gendered Borders”: Migrants and Refugess Shaping the Policy Making Process

The gender dimension of borders crossing has been scarcely studied (K. Ohmae, 1990; A. Paasi, 2009; T. Wilson, H. Donnan, 1998, 2012). The A. has studied the process of “gendering” the European Union Borders and its effects on policy making, analyzing critical issues such as the concept of borders and boundaries, as constructed lines of differences, and the process of policy making in the EU. The presence of vulnerable groups amongst refugees and migrants in the flows since 2014, has obliged the Council of Europe to recommend to the member states to take into account gender-based violence and gender-related persecution in their asylum systems. The Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe 2014, for the protection of refugee women against violence, focuses on the reception procedures and support for asylum seekers. According to the interviews and materials gathered in long field researches by the A. amongst refugees in Iraq, Jordan and Syria, amongst diasporas in EU – Yazidi and Christian – the experience of men and women (according to age class) are different with specific vulnerabilities in various stages (according to the phases of their journey) and in various forms (for instance violence suffered by women in the country of origin, when they become the victim of abuses during their journey, when they are trafficked). When crossing the borders, their vulnerability emerges more because of loss of points of orientation, lack of know how, risk to be blackmailed to access resources, risk of sexual abuse etc. (Amnesty International, 2017). Not only women: also single men and children suffer types of violence and have become the object of a specific normative in EU countries. The concept of “Gendered Borders” offers a new perspective in policy making, in prevention and resolution of conflicts and violence (S. Shekhawat, E. C. Del Re, 2018).