Abstract

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) provides framework for temporary and short-term movement of individuals for work. However, the commitment of the GATS is highly uneven across different service sectors and the different modes of supply. It permits the temporary cross-border movement of only skilled, expert and professional service providers to the exclusion of semi-skilled and unskilled labour. This article argues that since many developing countries and LDCs have a comparative advantage in exporting labour-intensive services and manpower, the failure to liberalise Mode 4 which deals with trans-border movement of natural persons, limits the overall value of the GATS for these countries. By limiting Mode 4 within the cross-border movement of skilled personals, the GATS in fact undermines the right to work of the huge semi-skilled and unskilled labourers of the world who suffer from unemployment in their respective countries due to poor employment opportunities. Considering the overall poverty and unemployment situation of developing countries and LDCs, Mode 4 could be extended to include cross-border movement of unskilled and semi-skilled persons under the GATS.