Maria Grazia Giammarinaro

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HR monitoring trends: evolutionary interpretation,
intersectional approach and fact-finding methodologies

My reflections are mostly based on my experience as United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons especially women and children, from 2014 to 2020.1 Special Procedures, including Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups, are independent human rights experts, mandated to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective2. Special Procedures are not […]

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Situational Vulnerability in Supranational and Italian Legislation

How to identify situations of abuse of vulnerability, which are constitutive of severe labour exploitation? https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fhumd.2022.861600/full

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Understanding Severe Exploitation Requires a Human Rights and Gender-Sensitive Intersectional Approach

My analysis of women’s exploitation in agriculture, domestic/care work, and sex work, shows that intersectional factors produce various types of exploitation that are highly gendered. Women’s subordinate position in patriarchal societies, domestic and sexual violence, intertwined with racial, ethnic, national or migration related vulnerability factors, can lead to serious exploitation, often coupled with sexual harassment […]

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G20 governments must address violence embedded in women’s exploitation

Violence against women is not an issue regarding women only, but the society as a whole. It must be considered a global emergency, taking into account the enormous amount of deaths, physical and psychological wounds, and gross human rights violations. No other serious crime has been so overlooked for such a long time in human […]

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5 arguments against the “Nordic Model” on prostitution, based on a feminist approach

The criminalisation of buyers of sexual services, which is an essential component of the “nordic model”, backed by one wing of the European feminism, identifies as a priority the punishment of clients, whilst public policies should focus on the empowerment of women and all sex workers including LGBTQI, not as victims but as rights holders, […]

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Beyond trafficking and slavery. Are our laws cut out for addressing systemic exploitation?

Shortcomings of the implementation of the 2000 Palermo Protocol Since the late 1990s I have been committed to establishing, implementing, and monitoring anti-trafficking legislation and policies. This includes a six-year tenure as United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons especially women and children, which ended in July 2020. As many people will already be […]

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Acknowledging women’s vulnerability and agency

As a women’s rights advocate, and during my six year mandate as UN Special rapporteur on trafficking in persons especially women and children, I tried to develop research and better understanding of two aspects, deeply linked with women’s experience: First, women and girls are the vast majority of women trafficked for sexual exploitation, and are […]

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5° Report “Agromafie e Caporalato”

Proud to contribute to the 5° Report “Agromafie e Caporalato” recently published by FLAI-CGIL,  the Italian Trade Union of agricultural workers. The chapter by Letizia Palumbo and myself focuses on exploitation of women in agriculture. The Report indicates that 180.000 migrant workers are exploited in slavery-like conditions by agricultural “mafia”, not only in the South: […]

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Presentation to HRC

I presented today my report to the Human Rights Council, calling for a shift from a law enforcement to a human rights approach in the fight against trafficking. In particular, assistance and residence status should never be made conditional on trafficked persons’ cooperation with law enforcement; States should ensure access to remedies including compensation; businesses […]

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World Day against Child Labour

Today is the World Day against Child Labour. Migrant children, asylum seekers, children separated from their families, invisible and exposed to the worst forms of exploitation, are the most vulnerable, and thus social consequences of COVID-19 are particularly devastating.  Since opportunities to gain money are decreasing, and exploited persons cannot satisfy the expectations of their […]

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