The United States-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement and Access to Medicines in Costa Rica: A Human Rights Impact Assessment

Abstract

This article examines methodologies for human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) of trade agreements through a discussion of a recent assessment of the impact of the United States–Dominican Republic–Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on access to medicines in Costa Rica. The article identifies the methodology for undertaking the assessment and discusses the ways in which adopting a human rights framework for impact assessment requires certain modifications to existing impact assessment methodologies. The article then examines some of the benefits in adopting such a framework as a means of analysing the impact of trade agreements as well as some of the political and technical challenges facing HRIAs. The article concludes with a call for more professional attention to HRIAs of trade agreements through the development of guiding principles, and for the commission of more HRIAs. The article also suggests that the mainstreaming of human rights in other impact assessment methodologies such as social impact assessments (SIAs) might also be considered.