Recognizing Women’s Rights at Work: Health and Women Workers in Global Supply Chains

Abstract

This article proposes and sketches a new international agreement to address the crucial human rights and international security issues posed by mass migration. Currently, the human rights of people fleeing violence are largely unprotected by international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention protects only refugees: those fleeing across borders due to a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. The world’s other 46.3 million people displaced by violence have few international legal protections. I argue that an international agreement that creates an additional category of people who receive international protections, whom I call “Displaced Persons,” is necessary to foster human rights, further state interests, and improve international security. A new Displaced Persons Convention would provide the strongest legal protections for individuals fleeing violence and states alike. If this proves impossible, second best would be a nonbinding or partially binding international agreement, which could also shape state practices and international norms. An agreement to protect Displaced Persons would supplement, not supplant the 1951 Refugee Convention, which provides critical protections for minorities and political dissidents that must not be diluted. Policymakers should consider the provisions discussed in this article as they prepare the UN Global Compact on Migration and similar agreements. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15779/Z38901ZF5Z * Associate Professor of International Law and International Relations, Marine Corps University Command and Staff College; Distinguished Senior Scholar, Fox Leadership Program, University of Pennsylvania. Ph.D., A.M., Government, Harvard University; J.D., New York University School of Law; A.B., Princeton University. Thanks to Susan Akram, Daniella Caruso, James Hathaway, Michael Ignatieff, Harold Hongju Koh, Stanley Katz, Itamar Mann, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Robert Sloane, Mark Tushnet; especially to Noah Feldman and Michael Pine; and to participants in the Boston University School of Law Faculty Workshop, the American Law and Religion Workshop, and the University of Maryland Junior Faculty Workshop. Thanks to Agnes Hurwitz for helpful conversations. This article was selected for presentation at the “New Voices in International Law” Panel of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law. 48 BERKELEY JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Vol. 35:1