The Impact of Labour Rights Commitments in EU Trade Agreements
Subtitle:
The Case of Peru
Publication Name:
Politics and Governance
Volume, number, page:
5:4, pp.6-18.
Year of Publication:
2017
Organization Name:
Cogitatio Press
Publisher:
Cogitatio Press
City:
Lisbon
Country of Publication:
Portugal
Full Date:
2017
ISBN or ISSN:
2183–2463
Considered Countries:
Peru
Category:
Academic articles
Theme:
BILATERAL RELATIONS UE - LAC
Country - European Union
BIREGIONAL RELATIONS UE - LAC
Agreements
Association Agreeements
Government
Business
Keyword(s):
Agriculture
Agriculture policy
European Union
Labour
Sustainable Development
Foreign trade
Labour law
Agricultural trade
Economic Agreements
Free Trade Agreements
Latin America
Foreign trade policy
Common Agricultural Policy
European political and economic integration
Foreign economic policy
International environmental policy
Abstract:
While the inclusion of labour rights in European Union (EU) trade agreements has become an ‘unobjectionable norm’, analyses of their impact have been largely absent from the literature. This article aims to partly fill this gap in existing research by examining the impact of labour rights commitments in the EU–Peru–Colombia agreement, with particular reference to the agricultural sector in Peru. Following a brief background overview of labour rights in agriculture in Peru, we draw up the analytical framework for assessing the impact of these commitments. We discern three distinctive legal commitments and find that they are flexible and conservative, also compared to provisions in other EU trade agreements. Subsequently, we assess the impact of these commitments by analysing to what extent they are being upheld in practice. Empirical evidence from several sources, including field research, shows that the Peruvian government has failed to implement the labour rights commitments in several respects. In the conclusions, we point to the cautious role of the EU, which has scope to monitor Peru’s labour rights compliance more proactively.
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