International Economic Law and Human Rights: Friends, Enemies or Frenemies?

Economic globalisation and universal human rights both have the aspiration and power to improve and enrich individuals and communities. However, their respective institutions, methods, practices and goals differ, leading to both detrimental clashes and beneficial synergies. In this book, David Kinley analyses how human rights intersect with the trade, aid and commercial dimensions of global economic relations, taking the view that, while the global economy is a vitally important civilising instrument, it itself requires civilising according to human rights standards. Combining meticulous research with highly informed views and experiences, he outlines the intellectual, policy and practical frameworks for ensuring that the global economy advances the ends of human rights, argues for better exploitation of the global economy's capacity to distribute as well as create wealth, and proposes mechanisms by which to minimise and manage the socially debilitating effects of its market failures and financial meltdowns.

One of the most important issues in the law of the World Trade Organization is the right of WTO members to adopt measures for nontrade purposes. In the WTO’s General Agreement. on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) and General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), this right is secured in general exceptions provisions, which permit WTO members to adopt measures to achieve certain objectives, notwithstanding any other provisions of these agreements and also, in some cases, other WTO agreements. These objectives include, most importantly, the protection of public morals, the maintenance of public order, the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the enforcement of certain domestic laws, and the conservation of exhaustible natural resources.