Global trade, labour and human rights

Conor Foley, Amnesty International, 99-119 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1R 4RE, 76 pages, £9.99 plus £2.00 p+p

The failure of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to agree a programme of action at Seattle last December has created the opportunity for a reassessment of the scope and content of future trade negotiations. In this short book the author argues that international human rights, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conventions of the International Labour Office (ILO) and elsewhere, should be included in new international agreements on trade and investment. This applies both to the WTO and to the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The negotiatons for MAI collapsed in October 1998 following a vigorous campaign against it by a worldwide coalition of voluntary organisations. This book usefully sets out the case for making human rights central to international organisation.