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WIMN’s Year-End Report 2025

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December 10, 2025

As Women in Migration Network (WIMN) concludes 2025, we do so with power, clarity, and renewed purpose. This has been a year of significant change and profound growth–organizationally, politically, and collectively. Amid shifting global landscapes and evolving challenges for migrant and feminist movements, WIMN deepened its commitments, expanded its reach, and strengthened the voices of our members around the world.

Advancing Gender in Migration Governance

2025 started with renewed energy from our Feminist Forum on Migration and Displacement (FFMD), convened in Bangkok, Thailand in December 2024. The FFMD strengthened our mandate to build a bottom-up intersectional feminist migration policy agenda (FMPA),affirmed in our 2023 Membership Assembly and carried within our LIGA program, focused on leadership development and meaningful participation of grassroots leaders in global advocacy spaces.

During the FFMD, 110 participants from over 35 countries had explored the unique challenges faced by migrant and displaced women and gender-diverse people; developed strategies for advancing their rights; and contributed to shaping a bottom-up, intersectional feminist migration policy–valuable inputs for taking with us into the upcoming years.

The forum concluded with concrete recommendations and a collective commitment to building a more just and equitable future for all, with an emphasis on migrant women and gender-diverse people.

This year, our strategic focus was sharply tuned to the major review processes concerning migration and gender equality. We have continued to leverage the recommendations from the FFMD in key global forums to ensure the rights and specific needs of women in migration are not just noted, but are actively integrated into policy and action plans. Our preparations leading to the 2026 International Migration Review Forum (IMRF) have centered on solidifying the gender-responsive gains achieved in the Global Compact for Migration (GCM). We have actively participated in the UN Network on Migration (UNNM) Round Table 4 (RT4) workstream, where we successfully championed a proposal for a dedicated Gender Rapporteur role within the IMRF structure. This proposed position is crucial for the comprehensive monitoring and reporting of gender mainstreaming as the IMRF Progress Declaration is negotiated and implemented. We also provided critical technical inputs to the RT4 background note, strengthening the official language regarding the distinct needs, rights, and contributions of migrant women within the cluster’s migration objectives.

To build further political support, we are spearheading the formation of a “Friends of Gender” Group among Member States, to foster a united, high-level political alliance to advocate for robust, actionable gender language during the often-complex intergovernmental negotiations. Finally, with support from Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, we have coordinated a new Spotlight Report on Global Migration, with several authors addressing critical issues for global migration governance. It will be released early next year ahead of the IMRF, to be held in May.

 

An active presense at CSW69 – 30 years after the Bejing Women’s Conference
The 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), held in March 2025 at the UN in New York, was a vital arena for assessing progress thirty years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA). To mark this moment, WIMN issued the brief 30 years since Beijing: Women in migration still seek inclusion in the Gender Equity and Equality Agenda, which meticulously assessed the progress made and highlighted the persistent deficits regarding women in migration over the last three decades. We co-organized the parallel event, “Voices from the Ground: Taking Stock of Migrant Women’s Rights in 30 Years of the BPfA,” to amplify the lived experiences of migrant women and grassroots organizations directly with global advocates and policymakers. Demonstrating our firm commitment to defending hard-won rights, WIMN actively mobilized participants for the “No Backlash to Women’s Rights” rally, pushing back against the rise of global political opposition targeting women’s rights. Our CSW69 Activities Report can be read here.

WIMN’s Open Letter in Response to the United Nations Network on Migration’s Statement on Remittances, published in June, addressed the limitations of positioning migration primarily as a “poverty alleviation tool” that reinforces approaches privileging economic outputs over human rights, labor rights and human dignity.

In September, representatives from several WIMN organizations convened in Riohacha, Colombia, for the 15th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). WIMN delegates joined over 800 participants from government, the private sector, and civil society, to promote feminist perspectives front and center. WIMN took on the co-leadership of the key working group focusing on Women, Migration, and Development towards the GFMD, playing a direct role in shaping the substantive agenda. Our influence was further magnified as co-organizers of a pivotal high-level side event with governmental and institutional partners, including UN Women, the International Detention Coalition (IDC), and the governments of Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Colombia. This event aimed to translate advocacy into concrete outcomes on gender and migration policy.

Finally, we extended our influence into human rights reporting by providing critical inputs for the Special Rapporteur (SR) on Migrants’ report on border externalization. We specifically focused on detailing the disproportionate and gendered impacts of externalization policies on women and girls, bringing a much-needed human rights and gender lens to this growing practice. We spotlighted this issue by co-organizing a dedicated side event on October 22 during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 80 ).

WIMN also continued its efforts on the FeMig Project:

WIMN is a partner in FeMig, an initiative to develop a Feminist Migration Policy “from grassroots to the global.” It is led by the Gender+Migration Hub at the International Migration Research Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, and also includes the International Detention Coalition, with funding  from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Working with locally-based partners, FeMig has so far convened one-day workshops with civil society participants in Thailand, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Nepal. FeMig has also received over 150 responses to its survey to expand and update an online map of organizations working on gender and migration.

Leadership in Global Advocacy program (LIGA)

In the words of a LIGA graduate, LIGA is “an innovative program that includes grassroots women advocates and seeks to strengthen their leadership, which is very necessary for their voices to be heard beyond their community, state, country, or region.”

From this program, eight organizations have joined WIMN: ACCSS – Asociación Coordinadora Comunitaria de Servicios para la Salud in Guatemala, AMKAS – Aaprabasi Mahila Kamdar Samuha in Nepal, CAFAMI – Centro de Atención a la Familia Migrante Indígena in Mexico, MWAB – Migrant Workers Association in Bahrain, ODA – Otros Dreams en Accion in Mexico, RedLatinas in Spain, Solidaritas Perempuan Sumbawa in Indonesia and YCOWA – Yaung Chi Oo Workers’ Association – YCOWA in Thailand.

Earlier this year we conducted an assessment of the program, piloted in 2023. 2025 was a year for reflection following two cohorts, to identify what worked and what did not. One participant shared, “Global advocacy is about more than simply raising our voices; it’s about making those voices inescapable. It’s about collaboration, resilience and pushing for a future where justice and equality are not just aspirations, but realities.”

Reflecting our politics in process and content, LIGA graduates were recruited to conduct the assessment, which utilized a two-part methodology: questionnaires for LIGA participants, facilitators, and WIMN members that focused on documenting learnings, impacts and recommendations; and an assessment session with both cohorts. The session encouraged deep and sincere reflection on the program’s impact, feedback, hopes, and dreams stemming from the responses received in the LIGA participants’ questionnaire. The inputs contributed to a Final Report and brainstorm on the next steps in the program’s development.

 

Climate Change Cross-Sectoral Dialogues

This year, WIMN continued to engage in dialogues on climate change, gender and migration, hosting conversations among members and feminist allies engaged in climate justice advocacy. Our two dialogues in 2025 spotlighted grassroots resistance struggles in the Philippines and Kenya. From these dialogues and those in previous years we produced 4 graphic summaries, each with key messages and demands from our allies. These activities, including a Circle on Care, Labour and Climate we co-organized at the AWID Forum Climate Justice Space in Bangkok, at the end of 2024 are included in a new report,

Climate Justice at the Intersection of Gender and Migration: a WIMN Summary of Activities and Lessons, that details our evolving work in this arena. Our learnings from this work are also highlighted in an op-ed, Climate related migration: it is all about political choices, written by Chus Alvarez and published in Migrant Women’s Press in November.
WIMN’s Governance

2025 has also marked a year of transition with Roula Seghaier stepping into the role of International Coordinator in June. The transition commenced as two of WIMN’s founding members and co-conveners stepped down from those positions: Catherine Tactaquin in December 2024, and Carol Barton in June 2025.

To honor our outgoing leadership’s outstanding contribution, WIMN held a surprise online celebration, recalling experiences shared, lessons learned, and sentiments of sisterhood fostered within our network. Our members shared messages of respect and admiration for Cathi and Carol:

“Your commitment to advancing women’s rights, courage in challenging power, and solidarity with women‘s struggles are well appreciated in the feminist movement, especially by organizations that have collaborated with you. We appreciate your efforts in creating safe and inclusive spaces for dialogues and consultations on the issues of women’s mobility and work.” – GAATW

In addition to Cathi and Carol, Helena Olea and Claudia Interiano stepped down from positions on the Board of Directors. As we bid farewell to 2025, we say thank you, Cathi, Carol, Helena, and Claudia. Your contribution to WIMN is unparalleled and we will make sure to follow in your footsteps. We will see you soon, in a different capacity.

 

Membership Assembly
In October, we held our Members’ Assembly to reflect on how far we’ve come this year, and where we will be going as a network. In preparation for the two-day event, we collected input from our membership on their priority concerns as they navigate the world of gender and migration. The responses were overwhelmingly concerned with the rise of authoritarianism.
A working group of individuals from our board, members, and secretariat created the agenda and methodology for the two-day virtual assembly. In addition to discussing strategies of steadfastness and survival amid the backlash on human rights, our members reflected on the expansion of our network, for there is strength in numbers. To ensure that any future membership proposal strengthens the network’s collective voice, values, and impact,  participants recommended alignments on values and purpose; and expansion criteria that centers openness, inclusiveness, and accountability. They proposed a process for responsible expansion while maintaining diversity and ensuring representation of underrepresented regions and themes within our organizing.

They also reflected on the resources needed to manage and nurture our membership growth. Sustaining and expanding membership requires dedicated staff capacity for outreach, processing applications, and member support. Consideration may include an observer category for newcomers who align with the mission statement. A working group was formed to take forward the conversations from the assembly and translate them into actionable steps towards a membership recruitment strategy.

Board of Directors Election

As WIMN has staggered terms, 5 Board seats became available to fill in 2025. During the Members’ Assembly, nominees for the Board shared their work and aspirations for WIMN. Following a close electoral race, WIMN welcomes new Board members: Cindy Clark, Fulya Pinar Ozcan and Berenice Valdez, and welcomes back Carolina Gottardo and Michele Levoy, elected for 2nd terms on the Board.

The incoming board members start in their official capacity in January 2026, and will collaborate with the existing and outgoing board members throughout the transition.

Cindy Clark
Fulya Pinar Özcan
Berenice Valdez
Archiving our movement
WIMN was founded in 2012, but WIMN members were active and collaborating much earlier. Some partners emerged from global migration work through Migrant Rights International, beginning in the mid 1990’sSome had been members of the Women’s International Coalition for Economic Justice. Many were engaged in the UN global migration process since the High Level Dialogue on International Migration in 2006. The first Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) was held in Geneva in 2007, and in subsequent GFMDs in 2008 (Manila) and 2009 (Greece). Groups such as the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, PICUM, United Methodist Women and others planned events and caucuses focused on gender, migrant women, and migration. These efforts and connections were the seeds of WIMN.

At this historical juncture in our movement, we are making a conscious effort to archive our history and that of those who have contributed and continue to contribute to our formation and ongoing efforts to strengthen the voice, representation, and gains for women in migration. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst is now hosting WIMN’s archives, through the generous initiative of Carol Barton.

* * * * *

As we turn the corner into 2026, being more effective and accountable in our advocacy, growing our membership, strengthening our staffing and operational capacity and expanding resources remain paramount. We invite your continued connection and support of WIMN on this journey.

Closing the year, we stand grounded in our values and energized for what comes next.

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