The intersectionality of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and individual human rights is the topic of the chapter. However, there is room for debating the individual merits of the existence of either of these organizations, the investigation of this intersectionality also includes the infringement on social (human) rights as consequence of globalization. The author presents this question invariably as a jumping off point for chapter as colors the rest of the chapter in a at best skeptical view of globalization as a force for good, but does not wholesale remark it as a negative driver against progress of social rights. This is a unique perspective to take, as as common (but not general) consensus skews towards believing and speaking against globalization for a variety of reasons. Instead, they view the involvement of the ILO and WTO as a value-positive influence in ensuring that within the global community and that they are uniquely positioned to leverage their scope to ensure that social rights are not halted for greater economic considerations. This goes back to the early twentieth century to the founding of these two aforementioned organizations, and more specifically the ILO existing to establish a “social dimension of international trade”, a source of balancing labor and trade concerns. This historical perspective applied to the general question of whether globalization is a good/bad/neutral force on social rights is an effective and useful tool for diagnostic purposes.
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