Human Rights Impact Assessment of the planned EFTA-Mercosur trade agreement

This Blueprint sets out the rationale and the methodology for carrying out human rights impact assessments of Switzerland’s trade agreements. Recalling the objectives of Switzerland’s trade policy as well as the country’s human rights obligations, it shows that human rights-based impact assessments of trade agreements are feasible and constitute valuable tools for policy-making.

Drawing on experience from previous, similar, trade agreements, it points to areas of concern for the right to health, for Indigenous rights and for gender equality.

It suggests some concrete ways that governments can – and should – negotiate and implement trade agreements consistently with their environmental and human rights commitments.