Study On The Labor Provisions In International Investment Agreements

Due to the trend of global economic integration,labor issues were gradually penetrated into the international area accompanied with trade and investment.In order to protect workers' rights,States began to include labor provisions in trade agreements or investment agreements.But no matter what kind of legislation,the content of the labor provisions are still simple and immature.These provisions cannot effectively play its role of labor protection.In order to better regulate the labor issues in transnational investment and trade,this thesis will discuss the perfection of the labor provisions in investment agreements.The thesis contains three chapter:In chapter 1,it analyzes current legislation of labor protection at international level.Firstly,it introduces the content of the labor legislation in unilateral benefits system,free trade agreements and investment agreements;Secondly,it analyses the advantages and disadvantages of the aforementioned legislation.In chapter 2,it examines the labor provisions in existing investment agreements.Firstly,it takes America who has the most mature labor provisions in investment agreements as an example,introducing the labor provisions in bilateral investment treaties,free trade agreements and trans-Pacific partnership agreement;Secondly,it analyzes the advantages and shortcomings of these provisions.In chapter 3,it makes recommendations on problems in current labor provisions of investment agreements.Firstly,it advises to define the scope of workers' rights which are protected in investment agreements;Secondly,it suggests to stipulate States Parties and investors' rights and obligations;.Thirdly,it offer a proposal of perfecting public participation mechanisms and dispute settlement mechanisms about labor issues.It is concluded that current labor provisions in international investment treaties are incomplete.In order to better protect workers' rights,we should perfect it.To be specific,firstly we should define the scope of workers' rights which are be protected in investment agreements;secondly we should stipulate States Parties and investors' rights and obligations;lastly we should perfect public participation mechanisms and dispute settlement mechanisms about labor issues,to promote the implementation of labor provisions.