Trade Mechanisms as a Way to Improve Labor Rights Compliance and Its Policies. A Case Study from The United States-Peru Free Trade Agreement

Abstract

This paper documents the process behind the filing of the submission using the labor chapter of the Free Trade Agreement between Peru and the United States and how the submission has developed up to January 2020. In this case, Peruvian unions attempted to use international pressure to change the Decree 22342 (also known as the Traditional Export Law) that enables repeated use of short-term employment contracts for the export of 'non-traditional' products and therefore allows systematic violations of fundamental labor rights. The claim is still open, and there has not been any legislative change. The process of filing the submission also highlights the textile union's dependency on international aid to finance technical assistance.

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