A/HRC/11/6 page 23 transition countries experienced regressions in women’s economic and social status,70 compelling hundreds of thousands of young women to migrate in order to escape domestic violence and provide for their children, many of which became trafficked for sexual and labour exploitation. 71. Similarly, the impact of the Asian financial crisis (1997-1998) on women and girls was also disproportionate. Girls were removed from school to help at home or forced to work in the sex sector to support family sustenance as a result of cutbacks in public service jobs and salaries.71 In some East Asian countries, women’s paid labour intensified while in others, notably South Korea, their labour participation shrunk. The resulting economic and political insecurity strained intra-household relationships, boosted suicides, domestic violence and abandonment,72 and provoked private and public backlash against women’s rights that was often defended on the basis of culture and tradition.73 The lessons learned from these experiences are particularly important for monitoring and responding to the current financial and economic crisis. 3. Free trade zones and migrant women 72. Trade liberalization has facilitated the shift from import substitution to export-led strategies which entailed the establishment of labour-intensive “free trade” or export processing zones (EPZs) exempt from many government regulations. EPZs have attracted young, migrant women from rural areas who are hired on temporary and insecure contracts. VAW, including incidents of involuntary pregnancy tests, sexual harassment, rape, and femicide74 have been 70 See the reports on my missions to the Russian Federation (E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.2), Moldova (A/HRC/11/6/Add.4) and Tajikistan (A/HRC/11/6/Add.2). 71 Truong, Thanh-Dam, “A feminist perspective on the Asian miracle and crisis: Enlarging the conceptual map of human development”, Journal of Human Development, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2001), pp. 159-164. 72 Floro, Maria and Dymski, Gary, “Financial crisis, gender, and power: An analytical framework”, World Development, Vol. 28, No. 7 (July 2000), pp. 1369-1383. 73 “Montréal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 3 (August 2004), pp. 760-780, in particular Principle No. 3, p. 763. 74 While the femicides are said to have different motives, including domestic violence, many of the murdered women worked in precarious jobs, including the export industries. Organized crime, such as trafficking in drugs and persons that also grew in Ciudad Juarez following trade liberalization is said to contribute to the conditions that account for the femicides. See “Report on Mexico produced by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women under article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, and reply from the Government of Mexico” (CEDAW/C/2005/OP.8/MEXICO) (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ cedaw32/CEDAW-C-2005-OP.8-MEXICO-E.pdf); also the report on my mission to Mexico, (E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.4).