Using Human Rights Strategies to Advocate for Undocumented Workers in the Domestic and International Arena

Chandra Bhatnagar, ACLU Human Rights Program
Cathy Albisa, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Claudia Flores, ACLU Women’s Rights Project
Rebecca Smith, National Employment Law Project

The workshop will bring together human rights and workers rights advocates to provide an overview of universal human rights standards that protect the rights of undocumented workers. The workshop will be interactive and will identify shared advocacy goals and work to develop concrete strategies for using human rights mechanisms to complement existing advocacy to end rights violations against undocumented workers

This workshop is relevant to the USSF because universal human rights standards are now an ongoing part of the discourse on U.S. foreign policy. Migrants and undocumented workers are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses and international human rights laws and standards often provide more affirmative rights and protections than U.S. statutory or constitutional law. As advocates and organizers in this country, we often face ignorance of or hostility to the use of human rights, and that is to the detriment of domestic movements for social justice. This workshop is designed to share tools to determine when and where human rights arguments and mechanisms can benefit litigation, legislative, organizing, and public education strategies.

This event connects to the USSF crosscutting themes because migrant, immigrant, and undocumented communities in this country have long been invisible, although they are a vital part of the economy and culture of the U.S. Assailed by ever more extreme immigration reform legislation, and the human rights abuses under the so-called “War on Terror,” immigrant communities are beginning to frame the movement in human rights terms. One of the most powerful statements of the immigrants’ rights movement is “No Human Being is Illegal,” affirming the inherent dignity of every individual, regardless of immigration status. Human rights are providing fuel for new grassroots movements because they encompass disparate issues—such as economic and social rights and intersectional forms of discrimination—not adequately addressed in domestic law or mainstream advocacy. During this workshop, participants will learn how to actively engage human rights principles to ensure due process protections and promote humane treatment.

In concrete terms, this workshop will address human rights strategies that workers rights advocates have used in litigation, advocacy in the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights and other international arenas, documentation, corporate responsibility campaigns, and public education and organizing models employing the human rights framework.

The workshop will be conducted in English, however, panelists will attempt to have Spanish translation available, though we cannot guarantee that will be possible. No translation equipment will be provided. Brief handouts will be distributed.