The first International Consultation on Refugee Women, organized by the NGO Working Group on Refugee Women, was designed to provide a forum wherein female-specific refugee problems could be effectively addressed. It dealt with five themes: protection; health; cultural adjustment; employment/development; and education. Twenty-five pages of recommendations were approved, to be incorporated into a final document, which will serve as a resource book for those working in the field. The protection needs of women refugees were discussed in depth, within the context of determining refugee status; assistance for the survivors of pirate attacks, and the sexual abuse and exploitation suffered by unaccompanied refugee girls. The Consultation recommended that States consider women persecuted on the ground of their sex as part of a ‘particular social group’within the meaning of the refugee definition; and that standards and criteria for the adjudication of asylum claims and resettlement applications presented by refugee women be developed. The Consultation further recommended appropriate services for the victims of violence and sexual abuse; effective procedures to deal with the perpetrators; and resettlement on the basis of protection need, rather than immigration criteria. Many resolutions were also adopted on protection from gender discrimination in the areas of food, health, education and economic opportunity, and on women’s involvement in programme planning and implementation. © Oxford University Press 1989. All rights reserved.

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