Interactive Session on Policy Coherence

In 1995, when the WTO was established, a simultaneous development was the Declaration on Coherence in Global Policy-Making, attached to the agreement. After that, relationship agreements have been signed between WTO-World Bank and WTO-IMF. Since then, financial institutions have moved towards strengthening and emphasizing support for trade liberalization and the WTO agenda within their work. This is important because it legitimizes a mandate for the Bank and IMF in furthering trade liberalization per se.

Why is “policy coherence” important from a human rights perspective?
Principle of primacy of human rights implies that trade, financial and monetary policies should all be coherent and subordinated to the fulfillment of human rights. The trend towards policy coherence means the creation and consolidation of a system of legal rules that is parallel to the international human rights framework. Thus, it can lead to the suppression of means to implement, in practice, the primacy of human rights law.

The notes from this interactive workshop are attached below.