A/HRC/41/38/Add.1 to assume their international human rights obligations and shared responsibility vis-à-vis that vulnerable group in need of international and human rights protection. V. Migrant women 58. Women make up an important part of the migrants expelled from Algeria: 76 per cent of the Nigeriens expelled are women from Zinder Region. For the most part they are young, heads of households or married. These women do not migrate following or accompanied by their partners or spouses but to work on their own (e.g., in street begging). They represent the feminization of migration from the Niger to Algeria.37 59. Women also make up nearly one third of the non-Nigerien migrants expelled from Algeria. During his visit to the IOM transit centre in Agadez, the Special Rapporteur collected information on the multiple violations that they suffered. Some of them had witnessed cases of sexual abuse and violence, including rape by police and guards, during the collective expulsions from Algeria. Extortion, forced prostitution and rape were also reported by women who had been returned from Libya. The women in the IOM transit centre of Agadez expressed enormous anger and feelings of desperation regarding the motives behind and conditions of their expulsion in violation of their rights and human dignity. They are in need of psychosocial support, and must have access to justice and reparations for the violations they have suffered. 60. The Special Rapporteur also noted that the Law on the Illicit Smuggling of Migrants had rendered women more vulnerable to falling victim to sexual abuse and exploitation. Indeed, he learned with concern that migrant women had become trapped in Agadez without being able to move further north in their migration journey. They were often forced into prostitution as a means of survival. 61. Protection of the rights of migrant women must be part of the national strategy on migration. In drafting the strategy, the Government should take into account the concerns and needs of migrant women, address the causes of migration for women, develop responses in consultation with them, including for their protection from trafficking and exploitation, and create mechanisms to eliminate harassment and other constraints encountered by women in their migration journey. VI. Migrant children 62. During his visit, the Special Rapporteur interviewed children who left their homes due to poverty and lack of opportunities and engaged in the migration journey without their parents, family members or any adult guardian. These unaccompanied migrant children had been victims of all sorts of human rights violations during their migration journeys through Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali and the Sudan, including harassment and intimidation, abuse, ill-treatment, labour exploitation, arbitrary arrest and detention and expulsion, as well as lack of access to food, water, health, shelter and education. They all indicated that they had never benefited from any special protection, but had been treated like adult migrants by State authorities and armed groups, nor had they received assistance from international organizations. 63. These unaccompanied migrant children, once forcibly returned to or trapped in the Niger while in transit to third countries, do not have access to any child protection system. Furthermore, there is no guardianship system to protect their best interests and rights. The Nigerien children who are returned from Algeria are taken care of by the Nigerien authorities with the support of UNICEF and reunited with their families. 64. Non-Nigerien unaccompanied migrant children who are expelled from Algeria or forced to return from other neighbouring countries are referred to the IOM transit centre in Niamey, which is exclusively devoted to unaccompanied and separated migrant children. 37 14 Economic and Social Development Plan, 2017–2021.