Using Human Rights Law To Empower Migrant Domestic Workers in the Inter-American System
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Description
This chapter begins by setting out some of the forces that contribute to the exploitation of migrant domestic workers in the United States, and moves on to consider the potential role of regional human rights standard and institutions in improving the livers of migrant domestic workers in the United States. Because the chapter examines the Inter-American human rights treaties and conventions that could be brought to bear on the actions of the U.S., it does not discuss the International Convention on Protections of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families and the other U.N. treaties, except insofar as they could be examined by the Inter-American human rights bodies. The Inter-American human rights norms, most prominently embodied in the American Convention on Human Rights and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, address many of the forces of vulnerability relevant to migrant domestic workers, seeking to protect such women from the abuses they widely suffer. After uncovering a significant gap between the protective standards applicable to migrant domestic workers and the reality on the ground, the chapter will consider the possibilities for bridging that gap through human rights advocacy and litigation. Against a backdrop of hegemonic American power and official disdain for the work of regional human rights bodies, advocates have achieved some small successes by using legal norms and bodies indirectly—through media coverage, work actions, and the integration of human rights language and rules into private contracts and local legislation. Litigation efforts have been successful in some cases, allowing women to access wages and contract damages; in such instances, there may be a role for increased use of human rights law, perhaps through the filing of amicus briefs. These are several troublesome obstacles for those seeking vindication through U.S. courts, however. These include the sense of vulnerability to retaliation or deportation that many domestic workers feel when pressing their individual claims through private legal actions. Immunity is also a significant problem in the United States, where diplomats and employees of international institutions may hire migrant domestic workers though a special visa program, but also enjoy immunities within the legal system that can block enforcement of judgments. These obstacles also create impediments for litigation within the Inter-American system, where petitioners must demonstrate that they have “exhausted” available domestic remedies before seeking international remedies. While litigation is not always possible, a number of options remain to vindicate the rights of migrant domestic workers thought the Inter-American system. In the final section of the chapter, potential avenues for human rights-related action are considered. Although the chapter does not examine the norms and institutions in other regional systems, it may be helpful to advocates considering engagement with the Council of Europe system (encompassing the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) or the African Union system of human rights protection (encompassing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights). These systems are significantly different from the Inter-American human rights system—and from each other—so the discussion here will not be easily mapped onto those regions. It may, however, raise useful points for discussion and research.
Source Publication
New Perspectives on Gender and Migration: Livelihood, Rights and Entitlements
Source Editors/Authors
Nicola Piper
Publication Date
2007
Recommended Citation
Satterthwaite, Margaret L., "Using Human Rights Law To Empower Migrant Domestic Workers in the Inter-American System" (2007). Faculty Chapters. 1808.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1808
