CAFTA
El Salvador is defending itself against a US$301m lawsuit filed after it blocked a mining project to protect the country’s heavy-polluted water supply. The imminent verdict will set a precedent amid a growing trend of companies suing governments when they can’t exploit their natural resources.
South Korea and six Central American countries will hold their first round of free trade agreement talks in Seoul for five days beginning Monday.
The Obama administration promotes the TPP as “the most progressive trade bill in history,” with the highest labor standards yet but similar promises have been trotted out to justify every free-trade agreement from NAFTA on.
Over 90 percent of El Salvador’s surface water is contaminated with industrial chemicals, making it unsuitable to drink even if the water is boiled, chlorinated or filtered beforehand. A new action plan for passing a nationwide ban has begun to unfold, as Salvadorans await the outcome of the Pacific Rime ICSID case.
Ten years ago today, in the dead of night, Congress passed the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement by two votes. Lessons learned from the actual effects of CAFTA on access to affordable life-saving prescription drugs provide a vivid illustration of the impact of TPP-like rules on people and their health.
![](local/cache-vignettes/L270xH180/"arbitraje_con_pacific_rim_ha_costado_al_estado_$12.6_millones"-093d5-06891.jpg)
Luis Parada, a lawyer with the law firm Foley Hoag, is optimistic that the company, Pacific Rim, will not prevail in the proceedings.
Civil society organisations can play an important role in carrying and strengthening community voices in arbitration processes, by making submissions to arbitral tribunals.
Failed trade and migration policies of the United States have exacerbated political problems in Honduras, leading to greater poverty and violence, says a recent report by the AFL-CIO.
The European Commission’s claim that threats posed by the investor-state dispute settlement system can be fixed by “improving” ISDS provisions in trade pacts has already been proved false, says Public Citizen
Ten years after the approval of DR-CAFTA, we are seeing many of the effects that citizens who opposed the deal cautioned about., write Manuel Perez-Rocha and Julia Paley.
The Government of Guatemala set up an inter-agency commission to support its dispute settlement process. The Commission will support Guatemala’s defence in the labour proceedings initiated by the United States.
45 days after putting into motion an arbitral panel for violation of labour rights, the Office of US Trade Representative (USTR) will today present the basis for its claims against Guatemala under CAFTA-DR.
Labor leaders say CAFTA-DR has had a negative impact on Honduran farmers and resulted in displaced workers, "total break down of public services" and "forced migration" of youth, while the US spends billions to deport "hundreds" back to the Central American country in shackles.
While the seeds dispute was an effective rallying point, social movements must confront the elephant in the room – CAFTA.
The law was originally passed to comply with an intellectual property requirement in the 2004 Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), and it was unclear whether Guatemala might now be excluded from the US-promoted trade bloc.
The Congress of Guatemala has repealed the controversial "Monsanto Law" which legalised property rights on plant varieties in accordance with CAFTA.
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has suspended the so-called "Monsanto Law" which was support enter into force, as an obligation under the US-Central America free trade agreement (CAFTA), on 26 September 2014.
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has provisionally suspended the entry into force of the controversial "Monsanto Law" required by CAFTA to legalise property rights over plant varieties
Guatemalan civil society has strongly rejected the country’s new plant breeders’ rights law imposed through the free trade agreement with the US (CAFTA).
US trade officials on Monday said they would give Guatemala more time to implement a labor rights enforcement plan under CAFTA.
