The institutional estrangement between international trade and human rights: are they siblings or distant relatives?
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Authors
Chuc Gamboa, Ana
Date
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
international trade , human rights , labour standards , World Trade Organization , United Nations , International Labour Organization , Universal Declaration on Human Rights , GATT , Havana Charter for the ITO , International Covenants on Human Rights
Alternative Title
Abstract
This research takes an historical-critical approach to examine the emergence and evolution of the international trade and international human rights regimes after the Second World War, with the purpose of untangling the roots of their estrangement and unearthing the misconceptions surrounding their intricate relationship. It begins with the observation that the multilateral trading system and the development of international human rights law took place at the same moment in history (parallel institutional origins), as part of a single peace project that joined the nations’ economic growth with the universal protection of human dignity (overlapping purpose), and under the umbrella of the newly-formed United Nations (common legal framework). However, this thesis argues that the postwar projects did not materialize as originally conceived by the postwar architects but an institutional estrangement took place between them instead. While much scholarship on the international trade and human rights debate that arose at the end of the 20th century has focused on whether or not there is a conflict between rules, the conflict between institutions, has not been fully discussed yet. This dissertation adds its contribution to fill that gap by charting the institutional, ideological and legal lines along which international trade and international human rights subsequently grew apart, leaving only limited and tentative intersections. It reveals the roads that were not taken in either regime that could have led to a closer integration between them, be it by the continuation of the observance of fair labour standards as a part of the multilateral trading system, or by paying closer attention to the role that trade obligations could have played in promoting the realization of human rights, particularly, economic and social rights. This dissertation does not attempt to give a practical answer as to how to eliminate the estrangement between regimes, but it aims to show that by rediscovering their original purposes, mapping out their interdependent path and reviewing past contingencies, a better integration between regimes can be possible.
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ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.