Over the decades, GAATW has played a key role in the development of international human rights laws and policies related to human trafficking and migration. In the 1990s, GAATW was instrumental in the campaign for an internationally recognised definition of human trafficking, now enshrined in the United Nations Trafficking Protocol.

Currently, we advocate for the rights of migrant women and trafficked persons, maintaining consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council since 2006, as well as with the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights since 2018 and the Regional Monitoring Network of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights since 2023. The GAATW International Secretariat also supports the diverse global network of members in developing advocacy tools and promoting evidence-based policies and feminist approaches to trafficking at the international, regional, national, and local levels.