인권 및 노동자 권리 보호를 위한 통상정책의 국제통상법적 쟁점 연구 : 미국의 ‘위구르 강제노동 방지법’을 중심으로

Allegations continuously arise that there have been severe government-led human rights abuses and forced labor practices against arbitrarily detained Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups residing in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region(XUAR). The Biden Administration's worker-centered global trade policy with sustainable development eflects a commitment to labor protection. In response of the U.S. to the human rights violations in China, the Biden Administration signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act(UFLPA) into law. The act includes a rebuttable presumption clause that all goods manufactured wholly or even in part in the XUAR are the product made with forced labor and not entitled to entry at any U.S. port. The approach to necessitate harmonization of international trade with human rights aims to achieve fair trade by ensuring the protection of human rights as well as the rights at work. It also leads to integrating human rights into business management under the international norm. This study analyzes the UFLPA linking human rights to international trade, and examines whether the act is in accordance with the WTO rules. The act is likely found inconsistent with the WTO rules as the region-wide import control constitutes a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination; or a disguised restriction. The UFLPA discusses human rights as a protected domain of universal moral and legal rights, and attempts to prevent genocide, breach of personal liberty, modern slavery, and forced labor. In order to protect human rights as an erga omnes obligation, any state including the U.S. can take lawful measures against the injured state to ensure the cessation of the breach in international law. However, in arbitrating conflicts between human rights norms and the WTO law, trade-restrictive measures must be regulated with the consideration of meticulous reviews under the current WTO system to seek a fair balance between the two norms.