ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the possible role of international trade law in the enforcement of workers' rights and child labour prohibitions. The normative standards, progressively developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), integrate and are complementary to the international human rights regime, and in particular to all those regulations concerning the protection of children, whether they are involved in economic activities or not. Thus, they directly enter into the current and heated debate over the place of international human rights regulation within the international trading system; a system administered since 1995 by the World Trade Organization (WTO), that succeeded to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1947 and the regulation adopted under its aegis. National and international trade policy instruments adopted by the US administration often make reference to the concept of 'internationally recognized labour rights'. After having been included in internal legislative acts, it has been incorporated in successive free trade agreements (FTAs).
