International law: from fragmentation to integration? an analysis of the relationship between international trade law and international labor law in multilateral and regional trade law frameworks

Tran Thi Thuy Duong ()
Additional contact information
Tran Thi Thuy Duong: Ho Chi Minh City University of Law

Asia Europe Journal, 2024, vol. 22, issue 3, No 3, 293-311

Abstract: Abstract The fragmentation of international law is a long-standing issue. However, it continues to be a topic of debate. While investigating this phenomenon, specifically the relation between international labor law and trade law, the author addresses the following questions: How does the fragmentation between these two regimes appear? What are the benefits and challenges associated with this fragmentation? Recently, with the rise of new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs), there has been a trend toward incorporating labor rules into the international trade law regime. By analyzing and comparing the “Trade and Sustainable Development” chapters of two European Union (EU) FTAs, the EU-Korea FTA and the EU-Vietnam FTA, the author explores whether this incorporation effectively reduces the fragmentation of international law and its negative impacts. The author argues that while it may seem beneficial, this partial incorporation may exacerbate the fragmentation of international law. In particular, the universality and inalienability of labor rights as human rights are not adequately protected. Moreover, the adverse effects of the fragmentation of international law remain unresolved. Therefore, although incorporating labor articles into FTAs is a step in the right direction, more coherent measures are essential to address the challenges caused by the fragmentation of international law.

Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-024-00701-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:22:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10308-024-00701-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/10308/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10308-024-00701-4

Access Statistics for this article

Asia Europe Journal is currently edited by Ulrich Volz and Lay Hwee Yeo

More articles in Asia Europe Journal from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().