Giammarinaro graduated in 1975 with a doctorate in Italian Literature and Sociology from the University of Palermo, after which time she worked for several years as a high school teacher before studying law.
It was during her tenure as Adviser to the Minister that Giammarinaro was selected to represent the Italian Government in several high profile international and multi-lateral negotiations especially concerning transnational organized crime.
In particular, she contributed to the development of a global agreement on the definition of trafficking in human beings, especially concerning the "abuse of a position of vulnerability" as a key concept to address difficult cases of debt bondage, extreme poverty or psychological subjugation.
Moreover, she actively contributed to national and regional conferences as well as expert meetings to promote the OSCE's human rights based approach to prevention, protection, prosecution and partnership.
All these activities were carried out in close co-operation with other OSCE structures, the participating States, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as with international partners, especially through the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons, such as the Council of Europe, UNODC, ILO, IOM, EU and others.
During her OSCE tenure, she developed the practice of country visits, by which she delivered targeted and specific recommendations to national authorities on how to improve their Government's response to human trafficking.
[24] In this capacity she made concrete improvements to the following countries which she visited: United Kingdom,[25] Canada,[26] Moldova,[27] Ireland,[28][29] Portugal,[30] Azerbaijan,[31] Bosnia and Herzegovina,[32][33] Romania,[34][35] Kazakhstan[36] and Uzbekistan[37][38] among others.
[54][55] Giammarinaro was interviewed by UK's Observer in 2013 on the occasion of the release of her Recommendations, stating that "[m]any people including children are trafficked exactly for this purpose, for example pickpocketing or drug cultivation and this is a big problem because once they commit crimes they are actually treated as criminals".
[58] In 2012, she received the Hero Award from the US State Department,[59] "in recognition of her exemplary leadership to increase engagement and strengthen commitments to fight human trafficking in the OSCE region, and to highlight the urgent issues of labour exploitation and domestic servitude in Europe".
"[60] On 26 June 2014, Giammarinaro was appointed by the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council as the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, replacing Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo.