FTAA Draft Ignores Environment, Poverty Issues
|
MIAMI, Nov. 20, 2003 (ENS) -- Trade ministers from the 34 democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere today advanced the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Miami at their eighth ministerial meeting. By evening, a day ahead of schedule, the trade officials had completed their Ministerial Declaration, reaffirming their commitment to the successful conclusion of the FTAA negotiations by January 2005.
The FTAA agreement must "effectively foster economic growth, the reduction of poverty, development, and integration through trade liberalization," the ministers stated. Environmental protection is mentioned, but not given a prominent place in the draft FTAA agreement, raising concerns that protections will be ignored or dismantled in the interest of trade. Addressing the opening assembly, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick agreed with his FTAA co-chairman, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, "We have trade-offs ahead." The FTAA began to emerge at the 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami as broad goals for negotiation were established. Nine years later, said Zoellick it is fitting that hemispheric trade ministers have returned to Miami to put the FTAA negotiations "on a serious track." Amorim said, "What is possible is quite broad. What is possible is quite ambitious." When completed, the FTAA will be the world's largest free market, with a combined gross domestic product of nearly $13 trillion and 800 million consumers living from Alaska to the tip of South America. The 2nd Draft of the FTAA agreement, which is the under negotiation at this meeting, contains several provisions that affect the environment in the chapter on investment. Parties to the agreement will not be prevented from adopting or maintaining environmental measures "to protect human, animal or plant life or health," or to "conserve living or non-living exhaustible natural resources" ... "as long as they are not applied in an arbitrary or unjustifiable manner, and provided that such measures do not constitute a disguised restriction on trade or investment." But this draft language in the negotiating document is still in brackets, meaning that it has not been agreed. Also in brackets, the draft document states, "The Parties recognize that it is inappropriate to encourage investment by relaxing domestic environmental laws. Accordingly, each Party shall strive to ensure that it does not waive or otherwise derogate from, or offer to waive or otherwise derogate from, such laws as encouragement for the establishment, acquisition, expansion or retention of an investment of an investor in its territory." "For smaller economies, a commitment not to relax domestic environmental laws should be allied with compensating access to the Regional Integration Fund for the purpose of introducing more modern machinery and industrial practices that would better protect the environment," the draft states, also in brackets. Fairness for smaller economies was an issue on which the ministers expressed their concern throughout the Ministerial Declaration. "We note with concern that while text negotiations have progressed, proposals aimed at giving expression to treatment of the differences in levels of development and size of economies are bracketed across all the negotiating disciplines," they stated. The ministers intend to level the playing field for smaller economies as an integral part of the FTAA. Their declaration instructs the functional committees crafting the agreement to make recommendations "on the application of the treatment of differences in the level of development and size of economies so that it forms part of the institutional framework of the FTAA." The immediate financial needs of the smaller countries will be met to enable their full participation in the FTAA negotiations, the ministers declared. They called on the donor community "to urgently provide predictable and multifaceted financial and non-financial support, in particular non-reimbursable financing," to meeting the objectives and capacity building priorities of the smaller economies. The ministers say they are open to the ideas of civil society, and invite contributions in writing from anyone and everyone. "We recognize and welcome the interests and concerns that different sectors of society have expressed in relation to the FTAA. Business and other sectors of production, labor, environmental and academic groups have been particularly active in this matter," the ministers say on their website. There have been two meetings with civil society this year - one in Sao Paulo, Brazil on agriculture and the other in Santiago, Chile on services. They included FTAA government officials and business, labor, agricultural producers, NGOs, academics, rural and indigenous groups. Reports of these meetings are on the FTAA website at: http://http://www.ftaa-alca.org/alca_e.asp At least two such meetings are planned in 2004, one in the Dominican Republic on the topic of intellectual property rights and one in the United States on the topic of market access, including small business issues. Many cities have asked to be considered for the permanent site of the FTAA Secretariat, including six in the United States - Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Galveston, Houston, and Miami. Other candidate cities are - Cancun, Mexico; Panama City, Panama; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; and Puebla, Mexico. Whatever city is finally chosen will have to contend with protesters who object to the globalization of trade the FTAA represents. In Miami today, a scheduled and permitted march sponsored by the AFL-CIO was completed without incident. Chanting “No to FTAA” and “FTAA, Don’t Take Our Jobs Away,” union members, environmentalists and religious and human rights activists from North, Central and South America marched through the streets of Miami Thursday to stop the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Estimates of the number of marchers in the street varied from 10,000 to 20,000. The march topped off a three day series of Stop FTAA events in Miami, which included a workers’ forum on impact of unfair trade on workers throughout the hemisphere and a massive People’s Gala, which celebrated cultures through music, food and dance. But police forces made 126 arrests today both before and after the main march. According to the Unified Command of every participating law enforcement agency in the City of Miami officers showed "great control while large violent groups threw rocks, paint, gas canisters, smoke bombs, and fruit at them." Two officers were injured, but are in good condition, police officials said. Protesters started several fires, insulted officers, hit their shields and used various tactics in an attempt to provoke them, but officers fired rubber bullets and used plastic shields, concussion grenades and stun guns to push back the crowd. Weapons were recovered on Biscayne Boulevard and 3rd Street, said the Unified Command, including bottles of urine and human excrement, rubber sling shots, wrist rockets, marbles, large nuts and bolts, a gas mask, box cutters, scissors and knives. According to AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, the protest march delivered a message to every working family that unions and their thousands of allies throughout the hemisphere are “standing beside you, fighting beside you and marching beside you” to ensure there will not be an FTAA. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2003. All Rights Reserved. |