A/HRC/32/40
sex industry. In 2010, in the context of the trade agreement between Panama and the United
States, the National Bureau against Child Labour and for the Protection of Adolescent
Workers was established within the Panamanian labour department. The partnership
agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the
European Union, also known as the Cotonou Agreement, provided for the creation of
cooperative education programmes towards the elimination of child labour.
61.
For children whose parents are migrant workers, being excluded from education and
health systems in the destination country can have lasting consequences on physical and
mental health and development. In its 2004 publication “Free trade and children”, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sheds light on the situation of migrant children,
in the context of CAFTA-DR, who are disproportionately at risk of poverty, family
disintegration and malnutrition because of declines in the agricultural sector and rural
employment.
B.
Structural impact on the rights of migrants
Protectionism, power imbalances, asymmetry and persistent inequalities
62.
The Special Rapporteur reiterates that the manner in which international trade
regulations and negotiations have been dominated by high-income countries has had
tremendous consequences for the most vulnerable segments of the population, specifically
migrants. Throughout the development of the multilateral trade regime, the protectionist
approach to specific sectors has prevented developing economies from reaping the benefits
of free trade where they have a comparative advantage in medium-to-low-wage labour. As
migrants have continued to move towards high-productivity regions, the economic and
political clout of developed countries has seriously undermined negotiations, monitoring
and accountability in trade and mobility arrangements. Within WTO, high-income
countries have filed the most complaints, largely owing to their superior financial and legal
resources.21 Empirical studies also indicate that, when developing countries sue highincome countries, they tend to experience longer delays between the end of litigation and
the beginning of compliance proceedings. In 2009, in recognition of inherent asymmetry in
the global economy, heads of the Group of 20 pledged not to repeat the same protectionist
mistakes in trade, but the International Monetary Fund reports that during the financial
crisis 17 of the 20 countries imposed trade restrictions, distorting aggregate world trade by
at least 0.25 per cent ($50 billion per year). As a result of institutionalized inequities,
migrants’ concerns become even more attenuated in the context of trade, even though trade
decisions have a direct impact upon migrants’ rights.
63.
There must also be greater balance between the protections afforded States and
investors and all other persons in the jurisdiction of trade parties. Rule of law and judicial
oversight are compromised when investors can bypass the exhaustion of national remedies
before seeking relief in supra-national tribunals, for example in investor-State dispute
settlement tribunals. While investor-State dispute settlement provisions are included in
trade and investment agreements throughout the world, 60 per cent of all cases in 2014
were brought against developing countries and countries with economies in transition.22
Although more cases are progressively being filed against developed countries, investors in
capital-exporting countries have filed more than 80 per cent of all investor-State dispute
21
22
14
Martin A. Weiss and others, “International investment agreements (IIAs): frequently asked
questions”, Congressional Research Service (15 May 2015).
Ibid.