Trade and investment

Impact on human rights

The global trade and investment regime has a profound impact on human rights, given that the promotion of economic growth in itself may not lead to inclusive, sustainable and equitable development outcomes.

General Assembly resolution 67/171 affirms human rights as a guiding consideration for multilateral trade negotiations. The resolution calls for mainstreaming of the right to development and strengthening of the global partnership for development within international trade institutions.

Trade and investment regimes also overlap and interface with intellectual property, transfer of technology, climate change, and energy regimes. Any evaluation must address the impacts of regime convergences, divergences and intersections on the realisation of human rights.

A human rights-based approach to trade and investment should consider:

• how States’ obligations under trade/investment law agreements might impact on their ability to fulfil their human rights obligations;
• what measures States and other actors should be taking to ensure positive impacts and avoid negative impacts;
• consideration of action that is required to mitigate against any negative impacts that do occur.

To achieve this, existing systems of international trade and investment must transform from engines of economic growth into a multi-purpose framework for the promotion of holistic, people-centred development.

Balancing trade agreements and human rights

There has been widespread criticism of, and mobilisation against, trade agreements and investment treaties, particularly given governments’ tendency to focus on commercial interests in negotiations without taking into account their obligations to address human rights, the environment and development. Evidence indicates that pressures from international trade and investment rules to open borders for goods and services, to create a ‘business-friendly’ environment for foreign direct investment and to strengthen intellectual property rights have often contributed to undermining the protection and realisation of human rights.

The triple global crises of high and volatile food prices, climate change and financial turmoil have heightened public scrutiny of the international economic order. As a result, there is a growing commitment by civil society and by some governments to assess the social and human rights implications of trade and investment policies and agreements – both multilateral and bilateral. This can be evaluated, among other methods, by human rights impact assessments (HRIAs).

Considerable efforts need to be made to articulate the added value of human rights to all constituencies, in particular the World Trade Organization and other actors engaged in the areas of trade and investment. This includes:

• the right to development and its application;
• the importance of policy coherence taking into account human rights obligations, standards and principles;
• the need for human rights impact audits and assessments, flexibilities and exemptions such as in TRIPs;
• remedies.

Events

Capacity-building activity to NHRIs on the linkages between the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCTA), 6th December 2023

• Flyer

OHCHR presented at a training event organized by the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions (NANHRI).This event provided a platform to build on existing efforts of NHRIs to advise on implementation, specifically on: creating awareness about AfCFTA and its potential human rights implications through the human rights-based approach to development, focusing on the intersecting trade, social and environmental impacts; strengthen the capacity of regional and national human rights actors to engage and contribute and identify mechanisms through which these actors can engage and meaningfully contribute to ensuring that the implementation of AfCFTA is human rights compliant.

Panel on AfCFTA at the NGOs Forum of the 77th Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

• Program and Summary Note

On 16 October 2023 OHCHR helped organize and participated in a side event at the NGOs Forum of the 77th Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights. The event focused on the application of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to digital trade practices in the African Continental Free Trade Area. Discussions covered various aspects of digital trade policy in Africa, using frameworks for ensuring rights-respecting digital trade practices, and identifying the role of regional institutions in ensuring that digital trade practices protect human rights and the right to development.

Joint OHCHR-UNECA briefing to Ambassadors from the African Group in Geneva on the African Continental Free Trade Area and Right-to-Development approach to its implementation, 5th September 2023

This event highlighted the importance of mainstreaming human rights, in particular the right to development into the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Participants discussed opportunities, and the usefulness of the right to development approach in implementation alongside support for capacity-building to countries in need.

WTO Public Forum panel of September 2023

The 2023 Public Forum examined how trade can contribute to a greener sustainable future by facilitating access to environmental goods, services, and technologies. The Forum considered the role of the services sector in sustainable trade, inclusive policies for the advancement of green trade and digitalisation as a tool for the greening of supply chains.

OHCHR – MONUSCO Hybrid Webinar on the realisation of the right to development in Africa, 18 April 2023

• Flyer

The webinar brought together scholars and practitioners from within and outside Africa to close knowledge gaps, forge partnerships for the acceptance and promotion of strategies for Africa’s involvement in the drafting and ratification of the UN legally binding instrument on the right to development.

Panel discussion on the inclusion of Women, Youths and vulnerable groups in driving the Implementation of the AfCFTA

On April 30, 2023, OHCHR together with the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies (ACDHRS) organized a panel discussion on the inclusion of Women, Youth, and vulnerable populations in driving the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as part of the NGOs Forum which took place on the margins of the 75th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, The Gambia. The panel discussed the potential for the AfCFTA to promote gender equality and youth employment in Africa. Panellists deliberated on challenges faced by women, youth, and vulnerable populations in participating in and benefiting from the AfCFTA and exchanged their views on the way forward.

• More information about the NGO Forum
• Concept note of the panel discussion.

Panel discussions on the mainstreaming of human rights in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) during the African Business and Human Rights Forum

On 12-13 October 2022, OHCHR organized a session on the mainstreaming of human rights in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) during the African Business and Human Rights Forum in Accra, Ghana.

During the session, over 300 participants were informed about efforts by national and international stakeholders, including the OHCHR, to promote human rights within the AfCFTA. The session highlighted the importance of mainstreaming human rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) into the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and related processes. The session had several specific objectives, including: i) identify opportunities and risks that trade liberalization under the AfCFTA might have on the human rights of individuals and peoples, ii) to understand the role of UNGPs in ensuring that companies trading under the AfCFTA Agreement respect human rights in their operations in States parties, and iii) to advocate for the integration of human rights into the national strategies developed by States for implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement.

• Concept note and program.

Panel discussion on risks and opportunities for climate change, food security in Africa in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area

On 17 October 2022, OHCHR organized a panel discussion on “Climate Change and Food Security in Africa in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area: risks and opportunities”, as part of the NGOs Forum which took place on the margins of the 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, The Gambia. The panel highlighted the importance of integrating human rights in the negotiations and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a flagship initiative for achieving the AU 2063 Development Agenda.  Attended by around 300 representatives of African and international civil society organizations, as well as ACHPR Commissioners and UN special procedures mandate holders, the NGOs Forum adopted resolutions and recommendations addressed to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including on mainstreaming human rights in the implementation of the AfCFTA. The event served for raising awareness of the linkages between trade and human rights, including the right to development, and building partnerships among key stakeholders to promote and advocate for the integration of human rights in trade and investment agreements using human rights impact assessments.

• More information about the panel discussion
• Resolutions and recommendations adopted by the NGO Forum

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights participation at the World Leaders Summit – Dialogue II: Inequality - Is the COVID-19 crisis really a game-changer? At UNCTAD XV Barbados: From Inequality and Vulnerability to Prosperity for All, 3 -7 October 2021.

The High Commissioner laid emphasis on the disproportionate impact of the pandemic crisis on women and girls, and called for gender responsive plans to the response and recovery. Reemphasising her call to recognise COVID-19 vaccines as public goods, the High Commissioner called on States to end vaccine nationalism, to enhance international solidarity, and to support the Secretary-General’s call for a global vaccination plan to ensure that vaccines reach 70% of the world population by the first half of 2022. The High Commissioner also called for increased support, including debt relief measures to Least Developed Countries and Small Islands Developing States, to ensure that they maintain the necessary fiscal space to adopt counter-cyclical measures to recover from the crisis.

• Watch the video from 19:00 – 29:00 minutes.

Resources

Documents relating to Globalisation and Trade and Investment.

Key Messages on Trade and Human Rights (2021)

This document explains the intersection between trade and human rights, including the right to development. It highlights the utility of impact assessments in identifying the positive and adverse human rights implications of trade on human rights and in ensuring that those impacts are adequately considered in the negotiating process and agreements. The document uses the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as a case study and makes recommendations on taking a human rights based approach to liberalising trade in Africa through the AfCFTA.

Digital Trade in Africa: Implications for Inclusion and Human Rights (2019)

This publication on digital trade in Africa assesses the inclusion and human rights implications of digital trade in the context of trade policy in Africa, which is underpinned by the African Continental Free Trade Area. The document offers unique perspectives on digital trade in Africa and its implications for human rights. It also includes recommendations on what needs to be done in order to fulfil Governments’ commitments to human rights, while at the same time developing national, regional and continental approaches and frameworks to support digital trade in Africa.

The Other Infrastructural Gap: Sustainability; Human Rights and Environmental Perspectives (2018)

This collaborative project with Heinrich Böll Foundation analyses the positives of including human rights and environmental rights dimensions of sustainability explicitly within mega-infrastructure plans and projects, drawing from experience in the energy, transportation and water sectors. The publication includes a dedicated analysis of human rights problems and contradictions within the infrastructure financing and investment regimes.

Globalisation and its impact on the full enjoyment of all human rights (2018)

A report on the impact of globalisation on the full enjoyment of all human rights, including recommendations on ways to address the subject. Common concerns and topics of interest are set out in the form of conclusions and recommendations on how to address the impact of globalisation on the full enjoyment of all human rights.

Baseline Study on the Human Rights Impacts and Implications of Mega-Infrastructure Investment. Geneva. 2017."

This document maps out and catalogues the potential human rights consequences of infrastructure projects as a first step toward a comprehensive human rights analysis of infrastructure investment and policy-making.

Report: The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) in Africa - A Human Rights Perspective (OHCHR, in collaboration with Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Geneva Office, July 2017)

The report is a culmination of an ex-ante human rights impact assessment of the CFTA. It advocates for the prioritisation of concerns of all members of society and their human rights in the negotiating, drafting and eventual implementation of the CFTA agreement through inclusive, consultative and participatory processes. The report makes policy recommendations focused on the human rights impacts of the CFTA, including complementary and adjustment measures.

OHCHR Thinkpiece: A Turn to Responsible Contracting: Harnessing Human Rights to Transform Investment, January 2016

Prepared for the E15 Task Force on Investment Policy, the focus of this paper is on infusing ethical and normative objectives and processes into state-investor contracts and ways human rights, in particular, can be incorporated. It examines model agreements that provide further guidance on how to devise state-investor contracts to address potential human rights impacts. See also the E15Initiative website.

Publication: Human Rights and World Trade Agreements - Using general exception clauses to protect human rights (HR/PUB/05/5)
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Report: Human Rights and the African Continental Free Trade Area - Taking Stock and Navigating the Way Forward (OHCHR, in collaboration with Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Geneva Office, May 2022)

In the framework of its partnership with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Geneva to promote and advocate for the integration of human rights in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), OHCHR and FES updated policy messages of the human rights impact assessment report of 2017, in view of their relevance to the initial implementation of the AfCFTA. The report was published by FES and is available at the following link https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/genf/19225.pdf.