Law, where she is Founding Director of the VLS Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic. I am grateful to Anne Bayefsky for her patience and persistence in bringing out this book. I thank the research assistants and many VLS colleagues who assisted in the funding, conceptualization, and formation of this chapter, and my family for its unswerving support. I also thank Devin for testing out and complimenting the laptop on which this chapter was composed, and for sharing his fabulous mother with all of us. See International Organization for Migration, World Migration 2003: Managing Migration-Challenges and Responses for People on the Move (2003) at 8 (describing the expansion of illegal migration); with ibid., at 66 (noting that "economic hardship as well as the attraction of the western consumption society remain the most common motive for both regular and irregular movements") [hereinafter 2003 World Migration Report]. 2 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, G.A. Res. 45/58, adopted on 8 December 990 (in force July 2003).
The United States has never seriously considered signing the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW, Migrant Workers Convention, the Convention). Despite the country’s close involvement with negotiating the Convention, the United States has shown no interest in the treaty since its promulgation in 1990. The major countries of migrant employment that initially participated in negotiating the Convention set it aside, and the treaty now has only 38 signatories and 51 state parties. The European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Organization of American States have all favorably reported on the ICRMW and called on the countries in those regions to ratify it. However, there are obstacles to immediate ratification by countries of employment, including prominently the “fear to be among the first” and domestic anti-immigrant sentiment. Even as the Convention slowly accrues country-of-origin ratifications, advocates and officials in many countries of employment are undertaking pre-ratification studies of the treaty. The United States, however, has not yet assessed the Migrant Workers Convention in a substantive way. The United States’ delay in engaging the Convention fits the country’s past human rights treaty ratification processes. When it does consider the ICRMW, the United States is likely to heavily restrict ratification of the Convention, just as it has in ratifying previous human rights treaties. This chapter describes the United States’ substantive objections during the treaty negotiations, and points out that most of the passages that were objectionable at the time were or have since become part of U.S. law.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.