Fitzpatrick, Joan

This paper discusses national and international responses to female migration and aims to "expose ways in which the legal regulation of migration reproduces and exacerbates the social and cultural inequalities that disempower female migrants." The authors conclude that although the international system has paid little attention to the particular needs of foreign female household workers, the law still has the potential to protect the rights of migrant workers. Recently, international law has begun to turn its attention to the violence directed at female migrant workers.

This article analyzes three legal instruments that address trafficking: the 2000 UN Trafficking Protocol, the 2000 American Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, and the regulations issued in 2002 by the US Department of Justice to implement the T visa for trafficking victims. The author argues that trafficking has traditionally been conceptualized as crime and migration issues, and that human rights norms must be integrated into national strategies dealing with crime and migration in order to respect the human rights of trafficked persons.