The use of EU’s trade preferences to promote human rights in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries

Abstract

The EU has several commitments as established by Article 2 TEU including abiding by its values and principles, that is “the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights”. It uses different sources to do so, both within the EU and in the wider world. With the challenges that the EU faces to do so with third countries, different policy sectors are used as leverage. The EU does this to promote democratic principles, human rights and good governance through development and trade policy, using trade preferences. However, considering that third countries have differing needs and relations with the EU, not all scenarios lead to the same results. A case in point is the use of non-reciprocal trade preferences in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, that raises the question: to what extent could the EU use non-reciprocal trade preferences (NRTPs) to promote human rights in ACP countries? This research shows that, while trade preferences are legally regulated by a different framework than that of the EU-ACP relationship, these legal frameworks have been found to be independent yet interlinked through the concepts that ‘govern’ the EU-ACP relationship and the obligations that their relationship entails. These concepts include: the definition provided to different concepts, the consensus among the parties, the concepts of dependency and governance, and through different policy sectors including development, aid and trade. In turn, these factors act as driving forces that determine the extent to which the EU can use NRTPs to promote human rights. Results show that NRTPs are currently deemed to be ‘passive’ sources in this regard.