Socioeconomic rights and the international economic order

Assesses the extent to which human rights & concomitant humanitarian issues can guide the "humanization" of the international economic order. The assumption that socioeconomic human rights have direct precedence with respect to WTO agreements & other governance documents of the international economic order is scrutinized. Addressing state obligations to protect international socioeconomic rights, the degree to which international trade rules & practices violate said obligations is explored in terms of the right to food & health & judicial protection of such rights. In pondering how socioeconomic rights might be utilized to render the international economic order more equitable, examined are human rights as a knowledge system & pragmatic policy issues, demonstrating limits to human rights as both a concept & a mobilizing force vis-a-vis the international trade regime. This lack of linkage is considered in some detail, concluding that socioeconomic rights cannot provide the kind of guidance necessary to make for a more equitable international economic order. J. Zendejas