As the first legally binding fundamental rights primary legislation of the European Union, the EU Charter is a crucial legal instrument for human rights in the EU, postulating that “equality between women and men must be ensured in all areas’’ (Article 23) and that the Charter has the same legal value as the Treaties (Article 6 of the TEU). Nevertheless, as emphasised by the Council of Europe report on “Protecting the rights of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls”17, migrant women still face heightened risks and persistent barriers that inhibit their full enjoyment of rights: “despite the existence of women centred norms and policies, reports from international and civil society organisations have highlighted systemic weaknesses in the responses to the risks faced by women migrating to and within Europe, notably in the last years”.

This report aims to provide a comprehensive overview, through the lenses of equality between women and men, women’s rights, and the fundamental rights enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, particularly as they pertain to the experiences of migrant women. We will provide an overarching view of the Charter’s history and its current interpretation in relation to some of the rights enshrined in the Charter, which are of paramount importance for the effective protection of migrant women. This analysis will demonstrate how the Charter can be used by legal practitioners, as a tool for advancing equality between women and men, non-discrimination and access to justice, as well as ways in which it should be improved/ interpreted/ amended/ used to provide an approach sensitive to the specific needs of migrant women, as well as women as a group.

This report is produced as part to the FULFIL Project, co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by the European Network of Migrant Women in partnership with OLYMPE Association and ARTEMIS Law firm in France, PAROLIN Law firm and IROKO Association in Italy, Association against Femicide (ACF) in Portugal, and European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA).