International Trade Law and Human Rights

This encyclopedia entry reviews the relationship between international trade law and human rights law. Trade and economic globalization aim to enhance economic growth and the well-being of states and their populations. Both trade and human rights law have traditionally been concerned with restraining the power of the state, and in 1945, have been crucial to re-establishing and preserving world peace. The interface between international trade law and human rights is an important dimension of ‘trade and …’ linkages, as is trade and the environment. Over the last two decades, global civil society has increasingly responded to economic globalization by opposing liberalized trade and investment agreements without accountability mechanisms for corporations and without respect for human rights