On 6-9 June 2024, European citizens will answer an important question: what Europe do we want to live in?

Do we want a Europe where women and girls have equal rights and are free from all forms of  oppression and violence? A Europe where every person is protected from discrimination based on sex, age, racial or ethnic origin, or disability? Where those seeking safety from persecution and wars are treated with respect? Where freedom of speech is a tangible right we can all exercise? Where no human is for sale because human dignity has no price? 

These and many other questions, we can answer by casting our vote during the European Parliament elections on 6-9 June 2024. 

In the European Union, the right to vote in the EU elections is reserved to its citizens. This means that anyone who holds an EU passport and has been residing in the EU, has the right to vote. Many migrant women who arrived to the European Union from countries outside the EU have acquired the EU citizenship. Some, 2nd and 3rd generation migrant  women, became EU citizens by birth. There are also women who migrated from one EU state to another. All these women can vote in the EU elections.  

However, many third-country national migrant women in EU states cannot participate in the EU elections, because of their lack of the EU citizenship. This does not mean that EU elections are not relevant or important for these migrant women. They are, because European parliamentarians’ decisions have a direct impact on our lives, opportunities and rights.

On this occasion, we produced a European Elections 2024 manifesto, and 10 key demands outlining the most pressing issues we want to see addressed in the next cycle of the European parliament, 2024-2029.

This document is intrinsically linked with the project that the European Network of Migrant Women has been carrying out in the last yea, titled AGENCY: VOTE WITH HER, in collaboration with femLENS, as well as  several national and local organisations in EU states (Akidwa in Ireland, MONIKA in Finland, Olympe in France, MIGS in Cyprus, Ukrainian Women Union in Greece, Oasis in Belgium, Por ti Mujer in Spain, European Organisation for Integration in Germany, Afghan Women Organisation in Sweden, Iroko in Italy).

The main objective of AGENCY is to increase political participation of women with migrant backgrounds in the context of the European Parliament’s elections 2024. 

In the period from May till November 2023, the changemakers – over 50 women from diverse backgrounds in 14 EU states – took part in the programme that included online and in-person training sessions covering a range of topics, from the EU institutional architecture and legislative processes, to campaigning and advocacy. They also got familiarised with the PHOTOVOICE – a tool that helps individuals and communities convey their stories and political messages through the medium of photography.

In the period from January till May 2024,  the participants of AGENCY will organise their own campaigns, combining PHOTOVOICE and documentary photography within their own localities with the aim to communicate their vision and their concerns to wider public and to encourage their communities to participate in the 2024 EU elections.