Worker rights in globalising economies: assessment of labour provisions in trade and investment arrangements

The current project examines the extent to which existing international economic governance arrangements are effective in influencing labour standards, working conditions, and the overall policy environment through which companies operate when engaged in international trade. In addition, the project examines the role of the ILO in improving the coherence between these arrangements and its labour standards and follow-up mechanisms. Outcome 1: Labour provisions in trade and investment arrangements are better understood, and promoted by governments, trade unions and employer representatives. 1. Thematic research and country level case studies Both the thematic papers and country case studies will reflect innovative approaches with regard to the design of labour provisions in developed and emerging economies and formulate recommendations for each of the stakeholders involved to give guidance to the current policy debate. a. Thematic research will be focused on examining the investment dimension of economic governance arrangements and the effectiveness with regard to implementation mechanisms. b. Country case studies will focus on the effectiveness of various approaches to labour provisions. 2. Support to global level tripartite Advisory Committee The on-going project is currently supported by a tripartite Advisory Committee that is composed of labour and trade experts, policy makers and practitioners that possess both a technical and policy expertise on trade and labour market issues from different geographic regions. The aim of the Committee is to provide advice in terms of research priorities, notably as regards i) the development of the conceptual framework; ii) selection of case studies; iii) identification of key partners; and iv) help the organisation of seminars to advance knowledge in this area and promote dissemination of the findings. Funding partners are included as members of the Committee. Outcome 2: Knowledge sharing to improve policy coherence at the national, regional and multilateral level. Funding will contribute to the peer review of research results by academics, international organizations, the ILO offices and its constituency in each of the regions. The main objective is to enhance the overall parallelism between the economic and social dimension of globalization. Therefore, the involvement of international organizations, such as UNCTAD and ECLAC is an essential element of the project. Particular attention is paid to strengthening policy coherence among international organizations and enhancing the institutional capacity of governments and the social partners to participate in debate and follow-up of these agreements.

Project symbol

GLO/14/05/FLA

Admin unit

RESEARCH

Start date

01/07/2014

End date

31/12/2017

Total allocation

618982

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

590587

Development Partners

Belgium, Government of Flanders, Department of Foreign Affairs

Country/Countries

Global

Outcomes

Advocacy for decent work