The thesis explores the international law implications of the various instances of overlapping and conflict between international human rights law and the law of the World Trade Organization. It analyses the potential use of international law secondary rules on interpretation, conflict of treaty provisions, and State responsibility to overcome the apparent conflict between those legal sub-systems and concludes that most of the time those rules would be useful and effective except in limited borderline cases. The thesis highlights the relevance of human rights principles and norms for the interpretation and applicaiton of international trade law rules and warns against the potential damage that the human rights protection system may suffer from the operation of trade rules and institutions that are not based or guided by human rights principles