Labour Standards and Trade: Need we choose between 'Human Rights' and 'Sustainable Development'?

This chapter examines the links made between labour standards and trade, in the context of an apparent shift away from a human rights (HR) perspective to one more focused on sustainable development (SD). The approach taken by the European Union (EU) is taken here as an example of this evolution in approach. My concern is whether this shift of language could entail a change in content. Can the justificatory basis for inclusion of labour standards make any difference to the efficacy of trade conditionality? My suggestion is that there may be benefits to supplementing bare HR compliance with a richer and more nuanced SD perspective, but that we have yet to see trade instruments which realise that ambition.