Advancing the Human Rights of Immigrant Workers in the U.S.

Materials on Decision of the Interamerican Court of Human Rights in OC-18. 

On September 17, the Interamerican Court of Human Rights decided, in a landmark case, that international human rights law is violated when a country fails to protect the labor rights of immigrant workers, regardless of their immigration status.

Translated Excerpt from Interamerican Court Decision 0C-18, and a summary of the decision, Interamerican Court Condemns Discrimination on the Job against Undocumented Workers. (October 2003)

Advisory Decision of the Inter-American Court Regarding the Rights of Undocumented Workers.     On September 17, 2003, the Inter-American Court issued an advisory decision in Spanish establishing that countries violate international law when their labor laws discriminate against undocumented workers.  (September 2003).

Brief to the Interamerican Court of Human Rights on Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB   authored by NELP and other advocates, outlining the devastating impact on immigrant workers resulting from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hoffman Plastic Compounds v. NLRB. Appendix (February 2003).

Fact Sheets and Resources

New! Protecting the rights of All Migrant Workers as a tool to enhance development, paper submitted by Rebecca Smith,  National Employment Law Project, and Sarah Paoletti, American University Washington College of Law for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' Day of General Discussion, 15 December 2005.  Click here for a link to the OHCHR website.

Derecho laboral y derechos humanos de los migrantes en estatus irregular en EEUU. Paper presented at the  "Seminario Internacional Sobre los Derechos Humanos de los Migrantes"  in Veracruz, MX (June 2005)

Facts about the Hoffman case and International Law.    Prepared by NELP. ( March 2005)

Employment Rights are Human Rights: Stories of Undocumented Workers: The Denial of Employment Rights due to Immigration Status, Compiled and Edited by:Anais Sensiba and Shaun Yavrom, Student Attorneys, International Human Rights Law Clinic, American University, Washington College of Law (March 2005)