Trade in the Service of Sustainable Development: Linking Trade to Labour Rights and Environmental Standards
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| Anteprima |
In
the Bretton Woods era, trade liberalization, the improvement of labour
rights and working conditions, and the strengthening of environmental
policies, were seen as mutually supportive. But is this always true? Can
we continue to pretend to protect the rights of workers and to improve
environmental protection, particularly through climate change mitigation
strategies, within an agenda focused on trade liberalization? Is it
credible to pursue trade policies that aim to expand the volumes of
trade, without linking such policies to labour and environmental
standards, seen as 'non-trade' concerns? This book asks these questions,
offering a detailed analysis of whether linkage is desirable and
legally acceptable under the disciplines of the World Trade Organization
(WTO). It concludes that trade can work for sustainable development,
but only if we see it as a means for social and environmental progress,
including climate change mitigation, and if we avoid fetichizing it as
an end to be pursued for its own sake.
