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News from the movements

EU-Mercosur trade agreement: No protection of environment and people without renegotiations
3-May-2021 CIDSE
CIDSE, MISEREOR and Greenpeace published a new legal opinion that proves that in order to provide effective protection of human rights and environmental standards, the agreement needs to be renegotiated.
Research undermines billion euro “compensation” claims by German energy companies for Dutch coal phase-out
28-Apr-2021 SOMO
The claims that German energy companies RWE and Uniper have submitted in response to a Dutch law that phases out coal by 2030 are not in line with the declining value and profitability of their coal power plants in the Netherlands.
Civil Society call for democratic control of EU-UK trade relations
27-Apr-2021 S2B Network
As civil society organisations from the UK and the EU, we want to express our concerns regarding the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement which is currently provisionally applied.
Mexico should follow other countries and refuse excessive powers for foreign investors
23-Apr-2021 Inequality.org
Pakistan is the latest to start withdrawing from international treaties that give corporations the power to sue governments over environmental and public interest regulations.
We need to rethink investment treaties to ensure a rapid and just energy transition
22-Apr-2021 IIED
It’s time to reconsider investor-state dispute settlement; inaction risks rising costs of shifting from fossil fuels to green alternatives.
Stop the Energy Charter Treaty
21-Apr-2021 Friends of the Earth Europe
This obscure treaty from the 1990s grants sweeping rights and protections to big energy investors – mainly fossil fuel companies.
Twenty years ago rabble.ca helped kill a free trade deal for the Americas
15-Apr-2021 Rabble.ca
20,000 civil society activists, trade unionists and environmentalists from throughout the Americas descended on Quebec City, where an alternative peoples’ summit was held.
The rise and demise of NAFTA Chapter 11
15-Apr-2021 CCPA
The removal of investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) from the renegotiated NAFTA was a critical victory but Canada, the US and Mexico continue to be enmeshed in an extensive web of bilateral and regional accords containing ISDS.
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.