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human rights

Human rights concerns stall PH free trade talks with EU
9-Jul-2019 Inquirer Net
The European Union has suspended negotiations for a free trade deal with the Philippines partly due to concerns over human rights protection as the government wages war against illegal drugs.
340+ organisations call on the EU to immediately halt trade negotiations with Brazil
18-Jun-2019 S2B
In an open letter, over 340 civil society organisations are demanding that the European Union immediately halt free trade agreement negotiations with the Mercosur bloc (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) on the grounds of deteriorating human rights and environmental conditions in Brazil.
Canada’s updated trade agreement with Israel violates international law
3-Jun-2019 The Conversation
The agreement allows goods and services produced in the Israeli settlements to enter Canada on the same tariff-free terms as goods and services originating in Israel.
Climate change, CAFTA and forced migration
25-May-2019 IATP
Climate change and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have destabilized the economies and lives of many in Central America and are driving migration.
Global anti-Chevron day objects corporate crimes and impunity
22-May-2019 Tele Sur
Thousands of demonstrators across all five continents have joined the International Anti-Chevron day to peacefully protest and display global crimes committed by the transnational company against human rights and the environment.
China: ‘Belt and Road’ projects should respect rights
23-Apr-2019 Human Rights Watch
The Chinese government should ensure the projects it finances or engages in under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) respect human rights, said Human Rights Watch.
The globalisation of border control and peoples’ resistance
14-Mar-2019 TNI
A workshop aimed to promote a collective analysis of border control, focusing on the power and impunity of transnational corporations, militarization, the externalization of borders, and the link between free trade and migration.
Just, open and green
22-Feb-2019 New Internationalist
Trade is for and about people. It should never be separated from its social context. Trade should improve people’s lives and the public good.
EU begins process to hit Cambodia with trade sanctions
12-Feb-2019 Reuters
The European Union started an 18-month process that could lead to the suspension of Cambodia’s duty-free trade access over its record on human rights and democracy.
EU: Postpone vote on Vietnam free trade agreement
10-Jan-2019 Human Rights Watch
The European Parliament and the European Council should postpone the ratification of the proposed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement until the Vietnamese government takes concrete steps to improve its increasingly abusive human rights record.
There’s a hidden cost in Trump’s new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico
3-Jan-2019 Washington Post
Investment treaties with ISDS provisions make it hard to tax foreign firms and worsen human rights and labor practices.
The EU’s trade challenge
28-Nov-2018 Euractiv
The international trading system is facing a crisis – but protectionism isn’t the biggest test EU leaders must deal with.
Special economic zones: engines of development or sites of exploitation?
8-Nov-2018 IIED
Many SEZs have been associated with compressions of land, labour and human rights. Investment treaties protect investments against adverse regulatory change, including in SEZs. To date, investors have brought at least 20 arbitrations to challenge diverse aspects of SEZ regimes.
Challenging the far right’s nationalist opposition to free trade deals
20-Oct-2018 Rabble.ca
Extreme right-wing, anti-immigration and Islamophobic parties tend to oppose so-called "free trade" agreements.
Australia-Indonesia free trade deal safe for now but Malaysian criticism swift
17-Oct-2018 Sydney Morning Herald
Indonesia could delay signing a planned free trade deal with Australia if Prime Minister Scott Morrison formally recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, political analysts suggest, as the move would provoke deep anger in the lead up to the Muslim nation’s presidential election.
The real problem with free trade
11-Sep-2018 Project Syndicate
Free trade has enabled a few companies to secure monopolies or near-monopolies, which has given rise to massive inequalities.
One hundred years of expropriation without compensation
4-Aug-2018 Expropriate
On 29 July 1918, the British judiciary proffered the Empire’s most expressly and egregiously racist justification for the land dispossession of indigenous peoples. Today, an ICSID tribunal continues that mission. No matter which way Zimbabwean’s turn at the polls, they’re still paying for their invasion and occupation by Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa company...
Dozens of grassroots groups want changes to ‘secret’ trade pact
2-Aug-2018 Asia Times
While some states in East and Southeast Asia favor the 16-nation RCEP trade deal, many civil society groups say it lacks transparency and public participation.
China wants free-trade talks with Norway to be accelerated
2-Aug-2018 SCMP
Free-trade talks between China and Norway should be sped up, the Chinese government’s top diplomat told his Norwegian counterpart, as the two countries step up efforts to put a row over the Nobel Peace Prize behind them.
The criminalization of migrant children, the violation of rights as a migratory control strategy
1-Aug-2018