Economic Globalisation and Human Rights
EIUC Studies on Human Rights and Democratization
European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation Series

Economic globalisation is one of the guiding paradigms of the twenty-first century. The challenge it implies for human rights is fundamental, and key questions have up to now received no satisfying answers. How can human rights protect human dignity when economic globalisation has an adverse impact on local living conditions? How should human rights evolve in response to a global economy in which non-statal actors are decisive forces? Economic Globalisation and Human Rights was originally published in 2007, and sets out to assess these and other questions to ensure that, as economic globalisation intensifies, human rights take up the central and crucial position that they deserve. Using a multidisciplinary methodology, leading scholars reflect on issues such as the need for global ethics, the localisation of human rights, the role of human rights in WTO law, and efforts to make international economic organisations more accountable and multinational corporations more socially responsible.

Introduction Koen De Feyter; Part I. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Economic Globalisation: 1. Economic globalisation, globalist stories of the state, and human rights Jernej Pikalo; 2. Towards a theory of global ethics in support of human rights George Ulrich; 3. Localising human rights Koen De Feyter; 4. Globalisation and social rights Adalberto Perulli; Part II. The Relevance of Human Rights for International Economic Organisations: 5. The World Trade Organization and human rights Wolfgang Benedek; 6. Making trade policies more accountable and human rights-consistent: a NGO perspective of using human rights Instruments in the case of access to medicines Davinia Ovett; 7. The Bretton Woods Institutions and human rights: converging tendencies Laurence Boisson de Chazournes; Part III. International Corporate Accountability: 8. Alternative perspectives on international responsibility for human rights violations by multinational corporations Francesco Francioni; 9. Human rights, arbitration, and corporate social responsibility in the law of international trade Fabrizio Marrella; Part IV: 10. General conclusions Wolfgang Benedek and Fabrizio Marrella.