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US labor leaders to Bush: No trade deal with murderers
16-Feb-2008 PWW
Top labor leaders ended a trip to Colombia Feb. 13 by telling that country’s president, Alvaro Uribe, that American unions will not support the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until the killing of union members by right-wing death squads there is put to a stop.
Why Afro-Colombians oppose the Colombia FTA
8-Feb-2008 The Hill
The US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is considered a non-starter in the US Congress because the country is the world’s deadliest for union activists. Less known, but equally disturbing is the systematic violence now confronting Afro-Colombians.
FIDH writes an open letter to African Union Heads of State and Government 10th African Union Summit
28-Jan-2008 Modern Ghana
the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) emphasizes that there are particular dangers associated with the negotiation of trade and investment agreements in a regional or bilateral context, which may not exist, or may not exist to the same extent, in the multilateral framework of the WTO.
Stephen Harper’s bizarre logic of free trade with Colombia
14-Jan-2008 NUPGE
How can Canada denounce human rights abuses in China while turning a blind eye to the mass political murder of trade unionists in Colombia?
Legalizing terror: Canada-Colombia "free trade"
3-Jan-2008 rabble
Interview with Manuel Rozenthal, long-time international solidarity activist and surgeon, and member of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, about the proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement,
NZers raise concerns over free trade with China at global rights event
1-Jan-2008 Epoch Times
Christchurch supporters of the Human Rights Torch Relay are asking how New Zealand can consider a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China — a regime facing allegations of large-scale genocide and organ harvesting.
US puts UAE free trade deal on ice
24-Dec-2007 Business 24/7
Negotiations for a free trade agreement between the US and the UAE will not be resumed under the current US administration, according to the US Trade Representative office
Mary Robinson concerned about EU approach to EPAs
9-Dec-2007 IPS
A recent study by Realizing Rights, an ‘‘ethical globalisation’’ body set up by the former UN commissioner for human rights and former Irish president Mary Robinson, forecasts that an EPA could harm Ghana’s development prospects by narrowing its scope to create more and better-paid jobs.
Malaysia’s racial policies draw international scrutiny
28-Nov-2007 Asia Sentinel
Malaysia’s racial policies look as though they could become an international issue rather than a purely domestic one. A Free Trade Agreement with the US is stalled partly on the issue of racial preferences. And if the much vaunted ASEAN Free Trade Area is to allow free movement of capital and skilled labor, Malays cannot be shielded from competition with ASEAN’s 400 million people.
Free trade with Colombia is the wrong deal with the wrong country
28-Nov-2007 Embassy
Not even the fact that the United Nations has called Colombia the worst humanitarian disaster in the Western hemisphere because of targeted killings of civilians by that country’s security forces that have risen sharply in the last five years, seems to matter as the Canada-Colombia FTA negotiations move forward at break-neck speed.
EU lawmakers vow to block free-trade deal with ASEAN without reforms in Myanmar
23-Nov-2007
The European parliament will oppose any free-trade deal between Europe and Southeast Asia unless Myanmar makes democratic reforms, visiting parliamentarians warned Friday.
Not the time for a Canada/Colombia trade deal - Colombian bishop
22-Nov-2007 CCIC Website
A Methodist Bishop from Colombia says the Canadian government is misguided to argue that a trade deal between Canada and Colombia will help democracy and human rights and bring economic prosperity to his country.
Why a Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a Big Mistake
22-Nov-2007 Canadian Labour Congress
Ten reasons why Canada should immediately stop negotiations of a free trade agreement with Colombia; the worst human rights violator in the Americas
No US-Asean free trade with Burma present
20-Nov-2007 Bangkok Post
Current political conditions in Burma make a free-trade deal between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations impossible in the near term, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said.
Canada closes in on Colombian trade deal while abuses continue
10-Nov-2007 Canadian Press
One of Colombia’s most celebrated and provocative journalists is urging Canada to put the brakes on a trade deal with his country, citing unabated death threats and assassinations against colleagues and other government critics.
Human rights body uneasy about impacts of CAFTA-DR in Costa Rica
6-Nov-2007
As furore continues in Costa Rica about ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), members of a leading UN human rights body have been expressing their concern to Costa Rican officials today in Geneva, about the human rights impact of the trade agreement.
ASEAN health warning: Myanmar stunts your growth
6-Nov-2007 Inquirer
Brussels and Washington have taken steps toward free-trade agreements with ASEAN, but they could be stopped in their tracks if the destination was a deal that had to include Myanmar.
Malaysia: Keep Myanmar politics out of ASEAN-EU free trade talks
31-Oct-2007 IHT
Myanmar’s political crisis should not be used an excuse to hold up a proposed free trade pact between Europe and Southeast Asian nations, Malaysia’s trade minister has said.
Farmers deserve a fair hearing
30-Oct-2007 East African
We should not be surprised at the Kenyan state’s almost complete lack of understanding of the concerns raised in a suit filed last week by the Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum, with the support of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, to block any trade agreement between Kenya and the EU.
Legal obstacles emerge over free trade deal with Europe
25-Oct-2007 Business Daily Africa
A landmark case has entered the Kenyan corridors of justice as a group of farmers and a human rights watchdog move to challenge the State over ongoing negotiations for a new trade agreement with Europe.