Book Description

Past research confirms that trade and human rights are inextricably linked by trade's effects on poverty, labor, women, indigenous populations, health, and the environment. We identified surprisingly direct linkages between these two vital policies in WTO agreements as well as that regional trade agreements add positive indirect contributions by to rules-based governance through their emphasis on transparency, accountability, and due process by governments, as well as timeliness, inclusive record keeping, and impartiality in the administrative decisional process. The present research examines a particular country and a single trade agreement, Peru and the trade agreement between Peru and the United States.Against the backdrop of Peru's large informal economy and its past reliance on the capital-intensive mineral and metal industries, the paper examines the potential effects of diversification of exports from increased foreign investment and continued access to the U.S. textile and apparel market. We address the Agreement's unique recognition of Peru's biodiversity and its inevitable connection to Peru's indigenous populations, in addition to the opportunities such recognition presents for cooperative efforts aimed at protecting the environment and preserving traditional knowledge while permitting research for lifesaving medicines. We look at the ability of the labor chapter of the Agreement to focus efforts of the Peruvian government to enforce fully its worker rights laws. We close with a look at infrastructural changes that Peru's Government may best undertake to magnify the Agreement's benefits. For example, efforts to strengthen the linkages between the knowledge centers and the potential knowledge users in the business community are necessary steps to take advantage of the new technologies so essential to solving the social and environmental challenges that Peru faces.