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News from the movements

It is not trade, it is imperialism: why Kenya must reject the US Free Trade Agreement
13-Apr-2021 Ukombozi Review
A FTA with the USA will be lopsided and threaten cottage industries in the country as well as informal jobs, which will negatively impact the lives of millions of working class Kenyans. Our markets will be swamped into oblivion by highly subsidized American goods.
What’s next? Kenya-UK Economic Partnership Agreement
13-Apr-2021 Econews Africa
The story of Econews Africa’s engagement with Kenyan parliamentarians and their advocacy efforts through media sensitisation and public interest litigation around the Kenya-UK EPA.
Rehabilitating protection and resituating trade agreements
12-Apr-2021 The Hill
Recent calls for the US to launch a trade dispute over Mexico’s proposed decree to ban glyphosate and the planting and importation of GM corn mischaracterize the science on glyphosate, the decree and the role of US trade policy.
ACTU condemns Morrison Government for pressing ahead with new trade agreement with military regime in Myanmar
11-Apr-2021 Mirage News
The ACTU has condemned the Federal Government at an inquiry hearing into Myanmar today for pressing ahead with ratifying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement which includes trade with Myanmar.
Why we need to talk about the African free trade area
9-Apr-2021 Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
The AfCFTA will give the African Union the chance to become a strong, independent player in the world economy – at least that is the optimistic forecast. But there are good reasons to cast doubt on the high hopes pinned on the African free trade area.
Rethinking investment law from the ground up: extractivism, human rights, and investment treaties
9-Apr-2021 IISD
For many people affected by resource extraction, it is the prevailing legal regime that dis-embeds and disintegrates, because investment treaties can protect ventures that upend their lives with little scope for voice or redress.
Nobel economist and 100 experts condemn corporate action against Argentina and Bolivia after rollback of failed pension privatization
8-Apr-2021 IPS
Private insurance corporations are suing Argentina and Bolivia for loss of potential profits as a result of the reversal of privatization of pension programs.
Barrick forces hand of Papua New Guinea government in reopening Porgera mine
7-Apr-2021 Mining Watch
Referring repeatedly to legal threats by Barrick Gold Corp., Prime Minister Papua New Guinea released a statement announcing that his government will be making a deal with the company in regard to the Porgera Joint Venture gold mine.
First labor rights claim under the revised NAFTA filed by migrant worker women in the US — what does it mean in terms of the new labor rulebook in the region?
7-Apr-2021 Public Citizen
The complaint represents many organizations’ intentions to test if the revised NAFTA’s labor terms could be an effective tool to improve workers’ conditions.
How corporate courts block climate action
1-Apr-2021 Global Justice Now
Corporate courts are an unjust mechanism that can block climate action. The UK should reject them.
FTA labour rights provisions useless without trade union action, says Korean unionist
29-Mar-2021 bilaterals.org
Interview with Ryu Mikyung who is the International Director at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.
ASEAN’s fate hangs in an RCEP balance
25-Mar-2021 APWLD
In a virtual press conference held today, new evidence from a UN economist shows that the RCEP, a mega FTA recently signed by ASEAN and five trading partners Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan and South Korea, will negatively impact ASEAN, especially its trade balance.
EU trade deal set to increase harmful meat imports
24-Mar-2021 Friends of the Earth Europe
The EU plans to increase the number of destructive products on supermarket shelves with the proposed EU-Mercosur trade deal, reveals a report.
Stopping the race to the bottom in trade policy
23-Mar-2021 The American Prospect
Agribusiness giant Bayer/Monsanto claims that Mexico’s proposed restrictions on the active ingredient in its Roundup herbicide violate the country’s trade agreement with the US.
Will new NAFTA block Biden’s progressive regulatory policies?
22-Mar-2021 The Hill
Biden is on the right track in calling for reform. But if the same deregulatory agenda remains in our internationally enforceable trade agreements, Biden’s reforms will come up short, ultimately subverting his agenda and vision.
“Super-protections” for corporations
17-Mar-2021 SOMO
How investment treaties and investor-to-state dispute settlement grant foreign investors greater rights than Dutch and EU law.
Stop EU-Mercosur coalition statement
15-Mar-2021 Stop EU Mercosur
More than 450 organizations launch a joint statement calling on governments to stop the EU-Mercosur agreement.
Shell’s legal weapon to threaten a just energy future
11-Mar-2021 Future Beyond Shell
To realise a future beyond fossil fuels, it is imperative to look at how to disentangle the legal shackles that enable companies to frustrate climate policy and shift the burden of their stranded assets onto the shoulders of taxpayers through arbitration claims.
EFTA insists on the UPOV clause in negotiating mandates for free trade agreements (FTAs)
4-Mar-2021 Swiss Coalition for the Right to Seed
EFTA’s response to the June 2020 open letter, supported by 250 organisations from around the world, is disappointing. EFTA maintains the UPOV 91 requirement in FTAs. The right to seeds therefore remains under pressure.
Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum & ECONEWS Africa court case challenging the Kenya-UK Economic Partnership Agreement
3-Mar-2021 Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum & ECONEWS Africa
The case was filed this monday at the Constitutional and Human Rights Division, and seeks to compel the Government to ensure transparency and effective public participation before the agreement is made into law by the National Assembly.