The impact of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements on the human rights of migrants 2016, para. 51
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- Given the endemic power imbalances in the trade regime, it is not surprising that Governments have rarely brought forward labour cases in the context of trade and may even challenge them. The majority of cases end up stalled in administrative channels created under the trade terms. Very rarely, other outreach solutions have been identified to remedy violations of migrants' rights. NAFTA has an advanced dispute settlement mechanism, but the remedies available are illusory and beg the question of enforceability, since the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), an accord parallel to NAFTA, only provides for binding remedies where an arbitral panel finds a violation relating to child labour, occupational health and safety, or minimum wages. Penalties are not imposed for labour standards violations and complaints rarely advance beyond the national administrative offices established to monitor NAFTA. In the so-called "Washington State apples case" (1998), when Mexican workers filed a complaint under NAALC alleging violations of their rights to unionize and bargain collectively, to protection from discrimination and to health and safety, and alleging that employers used threats and intimidation, the Washington State authorities established a complaints hotline in Spanish, produced Spanish-language information materials and recruited additional Spanish-speaking staff in the agriculture sector.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Paragraph number
- 51
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