CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

THE passage this month of free trade agreements may be a victory not only for President Obama, but also for workers in Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Although the anticipated economic consequences of these agreements are small, these pacts also offer a mechanism for improving workers’ rights in partner countries.

Some of the delay in completing the agreements was a result of concerns among legislators and activists about labor-related issues in Colombia and Panama. Since the early 1980s, various Congressional acts have required American trade negotiators to include conditions intended to insure fair labor treatment in free trade agreements. While the conditions can vary somewhat, they generally require promises from partner countries to prevent the use of child and forced labor, to require “acceptable” conditions of work, and to allow workers the rights to organize unions and bargain collectively.

But such commitments are often difficult to enforce, and the Obama administration expressed concerns that it might have little leverage over enforcement once the trade agreements were in place. In fact, even when bilateral trade agreements include mechanisms for addressing violations of such promises, the mechanisms are rarely invoked.

There is, however, a more general way in which trade agreements — and the economic ties they generate — benefit workers in developing nations. As Colombia and Panama expand their trade relationships with the United States, workers stand to gain more than just the job creation and higher wages that often come with expanded trade. Research I conducted over the last several years with the political scientists Brian Greenhill and Aseem Prakash suggests that trade with developed nations helps developing countries expand labor rights themselves.