World Trade Organisation, Geneva

Although the trade and human rights communities distrust each other, “human rights and trade rules, including WTO rules, are based on the same values: individual freedom and responsibility, non-discrimination, rule of law, and welfare through peaceful cooperation among individuals,” WTO Director General Pascal Lamy told a colloquium on human rights in the global economy in Geneva on 13 January 2010.

The colloquium, held under the theme “Towards Shared Responsibility and Greater Coherence: Human Rights, Trade and Macroeconomic Policy”, was co-organised by the International Council on Human Rights and Realising Rights.

“Putting together the issues of trade and human rights may seem odd,” Lamy said. “For many, trade is the villain. It is a symbol of mercantilism, capitalism, the tool through which powerful multinational corporations impose their law over human beings, impairing their social, economic and cultural rights.

“The history of the relationship between trade and human rights is a history of suspicion, and to some extent of deliberate reciprocal ignorance.”

Nevertheless, trade and human rights go hand-in-hand, Lamy noted. “Trade presupposes human interaction, respect and understanding,” he told the discussion.

Not only are trade rules and human rights based on the same fundamental values, “they are also the result of common concerns,” Lamy said.

“It is no coincidence that the seeds of the multilateral trading system were planted at the same time as the Universal Declaration on Human Rights was being drafted in the mid-1940s. Both were seen as indispensable to world peace.”

Despite these common underpinnings, the interaction between the trade and human rights communities has for decades been governed by distrust, “[a]nd yet human rights and trade are mutually supportive”.

“Human rights are essential to the good functioning of the multilateral trading system, and trade and WTO rules contribute to the realisation of human rights,” Lamy said.

Human rights play two roles in trade, according to Lamy. “First, civil and political rights are a key ingredient of good governance, which in turn is essential to the proper conduct of trade relations. Freedom of expression, for example, brings transparency, one of the core principles of the world trading system.

“Secondly, social, economic and cultural rights, often seen as the main victims of globalisation and of the opening of markets, are important ingredients for successful trade liberalisation.”

Trade can also help promote human rights. “[T]rade measures are the most commonly used instrument in developed countries to put pressure on states violating human rights. But more importantly, trade is a means to an end; and the end is raising the standards and conditions of living of all.”

“The objective of sustainable development features prominently as one of the objectives of the WTO,” Lamy continued. “The opening of markets creates efficiency, stimulates growth and helps spur development, thereby contributing to the implementation of the fundamental human rights that are social and economic rights. One could almost claim that trade is human rights in practice!”

Lamy provides the following example: “The reduction of trade barriers in agriculture, enhanced market access for agricultural products and the gradual decrease in subsidies provided by rich countries to their farmers… all contribute to the same objective: the implementation of the right to food for all.”

The WTO chief was eager to dispel a widely spread misconception: “The primary vocation of the WTO is to regulate, not to deregulate trade as is often thought. By putting in place rules to regulate trade flows and remove trade distortions, the WTO aims to create a global level playing field, where fairness is the rule and where the rights of individual members are safeguarded.”

“Of course, trade rules are not perfect,” Lamy admits. “They may, in some cases, have unintended consequences on human rights.”

“I sense, however, a growing awareness among trade experts of the importance of human rights and of the role trade can play in promoting and anchoring such rights,” Lamy said.

Source: www.tralac.org
Lamy’s full speech can be accessed on the WTO website by clicking here .