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Human rights clause off the EU-India trade deal

Brussels: The proposed European Union-India bilateral trade and investment agreement will not be tied directly to human rights concerns say EU Trade Commission sources. Instead, institutional linkages would be established under the pact to address issues of sustainable development, social and environmental protection. A provision on the guarantee of protection of human rights and, a suspension clause in case of serious violations, is a standard element in many of the EU’s development cooperation agreements with third countries. In fact, the 1994 EU-India political cooperation agreement contains precisely such a provision.

However, a key point of debate in the EU Council of Ministers during the formulation of the mandate for the trade pact was that the EU’s political dialogue with India had somehow not kept pace with the more rapid development of trade relations and that a dynamic new agreement must incorporate a commitment to core concerns such as sustainable development.

The consensus view was that the trade deal should remain as such and that the 1994 political cooperation agreement should be upgraded to reflect concerns about the 21st century challenges such as terrorism and climate change. The Ministry of External Affairs and its EU counterpart have already held a round of exploratory talks on updating the framework for the political dialogue.

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