Blame it on the WTO?

Human Rights

Blame it on the WTO? A Human Rights Critique

By Sarah Joseph
Oxford University Press September 2013

Specifications

ISBN-13
9780199689767
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Publication
September 2013
Format
Paperback , 368 pages
Jurisdiction
International ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

  • Provides a much-needed legal examination of the criticisms often levelled at the human rights record of the WTO
  • Assesses whether developed States have an obligation towards developing nations to create a fairer trading system in the light of the failure of the Doha Round
  • Analyzes key issues such as developing States' access to cheap HIV/AIDS medication, the protection of labour rights, and trade bans aimed at States which violate human rights
  • Includes a new preface addressing recent developments

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is often accused of, at best, not paying enough attention to human rights or, at worst, facilitating and perpetuating human rights abuses. This book weighs these criticisms and examines their validity, incorporating legal arguments as well as some economic and political science perspectives.

After introducing the respective WTO and human rights regimes, and discussing their legal and normative relationship to each other, the book presents a detailed analysis of the main human rights concerns relating to the WTO. These include the alleged democratic deficit within the Organization and the impact of WTO rules on the right to health, labour rights, the right to food, and on questions of poverty and development.

Given that some of the most important issues within the WTO concern its impact on poor people within developing States, the book asks whether rich States have an obligation to the people of poorer States to construct a fairer trading system that better facilitates the alleviation of poverty and development. Against this background, the book examines the current Doha round proposals as well as suggestions for reform of the WTO to make it more 'human rights-friendly'.

 

Readership: Students and scholars of international trade law and human rights law; legal advisers of governmental and non-governmental organizations dealing with the WTO and/or human rights

Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Introducing the WTO and International Human Rights Regimes
2: The Relationship between the WTO and International Human Rights Law
3: Democratic Deficit and the WTO
4: 'Human Rights' Restrictions on Trade
5: The WTO, Poverty, and Development
6: The WTO and the Right to Food
7: TRIPS and the Right to Health
8: xtraterritorial Human Rights Duties
9: WTO Reform, The Doha Round, and Other Free Trade Initiatives
10: Conclusion

About the Author

Sarah Joseph is a Professor of Human Rights Law, and the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University in Melbourne. She has numerous publications on human rights, in areas such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, corporations and human rights, terrorism and human rights, self-determination, and now global trade and human rights. She is also an expert on Australian constitutional law, having co-written a leading text on that issue. She has taught human rights in many settings, both international and local, for over 15 years.

Reviews

"Joseph succeeds in offering a book that serves to educate human rights lawyers and trade lawyers about each other's respective field. She takes great pains to offer a balanced view, open to both the positive and negative influences from the WTO on international human rights as a matter of law as well as practice. For those interested in examining the impact of the WTO on human rights, this is a very good starting point." - Gregory Messenger, European Human Rights Law Review

"This is an intriguing and immaculately well-presented book that deals with a controversial topic that is frequently either totally ignored or given very little attention...this fine book will go some way to providing some positive and productive discussion which can lead to some important reforms." - Andrew Campbell, International Journal of Human Rights

"This is a very interesting and scholarly work that systematically and thoroughly analyses the validity of the main human rights concerns regarding the law and practice created by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), its underlying free trade theory as well as the (not always compliant) practice of its members." - Polona Florijancic, International Human Rights Law Review

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