Economic Sanctions and Human Rights/Preferential Trade and Human Rights
9 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2008
Date Written: January 1, 2007
Abstract
The law of trade liberalization found in WTO agreements and the protection of human rights are intimately bound through the use of economic sanctions. While the general international law perspective on economic sanctions is one of permissiveness within the limits of humanitarian and human rights law, the law of the World Trade Organization restricts its Members from applying economic sanctions against other Members unless the trade restricting measures fall within the general exceptions provisions. This leads to a constellation where potentially human rights-violating sanctions programs are explicitly excepted from WTO oversight, whereas sanctions by single Members, that are unlikely to impose human costs by virtue of their limited scope, face high barriers under WTO laws.
Keywords: Economic sanctions, Human Rights, Preferential trade, World Trade Organization
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