History

Written on 26 February 2009.

The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) was founded in 1994 at a conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where participants were concerned about the contemporary discourse and activism around trafficking in women. The Alliance was born of a collective decision to understand the elements of trafficking from a human rights perspective, in order to improve the lives of trafficked women.

The founding of GAATW lay in the acknowledgement of the need to engage politically with the issue of human trafficking by focusing on a human rights perspective, while incorporating the voices of trafficked persons and other affected communities in policy discussions.

Over the next years has GAATW made significant contributions to the anti-trafficking movement. It was the first to conceptualise trafficking as both a consequence and cause of human rights violations, and to see the elements of trafficking apparent in a range of formal and non-formal sectors. GAATW's Human Rights Standards in the Treatment of Trafficked Persons (1999) and the Human Rights and Trafficking in Persons (2000) were ground-breaking applications of human rights to the trafficking context and were instrumental in expanding the concept of trafficking in the United Nations Trafficking Protocol.

Between 2001 and 2005 GAATW advocated for change at the national level to implement the Palermo Protocol, and continue as a group to review, analyse, propose, and monitor changes in the anti-trafficking scene from a human rights based perspective.

Today, the Alliance has grown into a worldwide network of over 100 organisational members and a wide community of partners and allies.

These are the basic facts. However, over the past 20 years, the history of GAATW has woven a complex and powerful tale; let us take you on the journey:

Mission

Written on 25 February 2009.

GAATW's mission is to ensure that the human rights of all migrating women are respected and protected by authorities and agencies.

GAATW promotes rights of women migrant workers and trafficked persons and believes that ensuring safe migration and fair work places should be at the core of all anti-trafficking efforts. We advocate for living and working conditions that provide women with more alternatives in their countries of origin, and to develop and disseminate information to women about migration, working conditions and their rights.

GAATW advocates for the incorporation of Human Rights Standards in all anti-trafficking initiatives, including in the implementation of the Trafficking Protocol, Supplementary to the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (2000). GAATW strives to promote and share good practices of anti-trafficking initiatives but also to critique practices and policies that are having a negative impact or are causing harm to trafficked persons, migrants, and other communities.

GAATW supports the self-organisation of women in vulnerable and marginalized situations, especially migrant workers in the informal sector and aims to strengthen their efforts of self-representation and advocacy.

GAATW's mandate focuses on the issues of migration, labour and human trafficking with a special emphasis on women. GAATW International Secretariat (IS) works in conjunction with its member and partner organisations and aims to plan and implement the strategic agenda of the Alliance in a democratic manner centring the rights of all migrating people.