Human Rights Conditionality in the EU's International Agreements

The Politics of Leverage in International Relations

“…Emilie Hafner-Burton (2005) argues that PTAs with human rights conditionality create strong material incentives for rightsviolating governments to reduce repression by linking tangible economic benefits to governments' human rights practices that would otherwise remain a matter of domestic concern. The EU PTAs are especially effective since the European Union incorporates "hard" human rights standards into its PTAs with developing trade partners (HafnerBurton 2005, 606-607; see also Bartels 2005). In addition, the European Union has deepened its human rights commitment, since it began to deal with the former communist states in Eastern and Central Europe after the end of the Cold War.…”

From colonial power to human rights promoter: on the legal regulation of the European Union's relations with the developing countries

“…Furthermore, EU development policy in this period increasingly focused on the developing countries' private sector, and emphasized the need for decentralized cooperation and the idea that developing countries should have 'ownership' over their development policies and strategies (see for example Lomé III Convention, Arts 2-3). Finally, a new political dimension was introduced into the framework of EU development policy, in that respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law was made an integral part of the EU's relations with developing countries (Bartels 2005; see for example the preamble to the Lomé III Convention and Art 5 of the Lomé IV Convention).…”

Civil Society Participation and EU Children's Rights Policy

“…Indeed, the EU's promotion of human rights' norms and standards as part of its external policy has a long history (Von Bogdandy, 2000). For instance, the EU has promoted human rights in enlargement negotiations (Pridham, 1999;Schimmelfennig & Sedelmeier, 2005), via the human rights clause included in the external agreements concluded with third countries (Bartels, 2005;Fierro, 2003), and through development aid (Crawford, 2008). Therefore, the well-established working relations and consultation mechanisms with human rights' NGOs are embedded in the fabric of EU external policy.…”