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human rights

EU proposes raising tariffs on countries blocking return of rejected asylum seekers
3-Jun-2022 The Brussels Times
Under a new proposal from the European Commission, non-EU nations who refuse to make arrangements to take back undocumented migrants with a failed asylum claim may have their import tariffs increased.
China dismisses Swiss reports of stalled free trade talks
2-Jun-2022 Swiss Info
China’s commerce ministry has denied talks with Switzerland to update a free trade agreement between both countries are "frozen".
China-Swiss trade talks stall over rights issues – newspapers
30-May-2022 KELO
Efforts by Switzerland to refresh its free trade agreement with China have stalled as Bern takes a more critical view of Beijing’s human rights record.
Overselling EU trade deals: new study uncovers failures of sustainability impact assessments
11-May-2022 Greenpeace
The European Commission uses flawed and tardy sustainability impact assessments as a fig leaf for environmentally, socially and economically damaging EU trade agreements, according to a new study.
Key human rights tests for UK free trade agreements
9-May-2022 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Without adequate rules and the right business incentives to protect workers and communities, trade deals can contribute to a ‘race to the bottom’.
UK trade deal with Israel sends a clear message: Apartheid is rewarded
26-Apr-2022 Middle East Eye
Without conditionality on human rights or a mechanism for accountability, how can an enhanced trading relationship be understood by Israel as anything other than support for its violations and war crimes?
Dangerous man, dangerous deals
24-Jan-2022 Greenpeace
Why the EU should not strengthen relations with Bolsonaro.
The EU narrative around trade with Vietnam
14-Jan-2022 The Loop
The EU managed to avoid mass protest by creating an ethical narrative around its trade negotiations with authoritarian Vietnam.
US removes Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from AGOA trade programme
3-Jan-2022 Al Jazeera
US removes Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from duty-free trade programme over alleged rights violations and recent coups.
UK trade talks risk ‘lending legitimacy’ to Brazil’s far-right regime, TUC claims
18-Nov-2021 The Independent
British ministers should not pursue a trade deal with the major economy while Jair Bolsonaro is in charge, trade union boss, Frances O’Grady, said.
The EU’s path to trade sustainability
15-Oct-2021 Euractiv
As public support for EU free trade deals is waning, civil society groups are hoping to help tighten the bloc’s standards on trade sustainability as part of an ongoing consultation.
States must stop prioritizing investment over human rights – UN experts
15-Oct-2021 OHCHR
UN experts today called on States to ensure that international investment agreements do not provide a “safe harbour” for investors to abuse the human rights of individuals and communities.
Modernisation of the association agreement between the European Union and Chile
15-Oct-2021 Anna Cavazzini
30+ MEPs on the EU Commission to not conclude negotiations of the EU-Chile trade deal before Chile’s constitutional process is over.
Multinational corporations and COVID-19: Intellectual property rights vs. human rights
20-Sep-2021 Socialist Project
Transnational companies today rely more than ever on IPR to structure their global value chains, writes Peter Rossman
JSCOT Committee report on RCEP supports implementation
3-Sep-2021 Scoop
AFTINET’s submission to the JSCOT RCEP argues that the RCEP has serious flaws and should be renegotiated and amended to address these flaws.
Protecting human and environmental rights in international investment agreements
9-Aug-2021 East Asia Forum
Human rights experts are particularly concerned about the asymmetric nature of the system and a lack of investors’ human rights obligations. Together with high ISDS costs and arbitral awards, they undermine states’ ability to realise economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.
Vietnam: EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) denounces activists’ arrests
20-Jul-2021 FIDH
The EU Domestic Advisory Group set up under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement received a concerning report of the arrest in Hanoi of two prominent civil society activists.
EU sets Uyghur and Hong Kong conditions for investment agreement
16-Jul-2021 Hindustan Times
The conditions have been listed in a draft report prepared by foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament.
Three ways that human rights impact assessment can improve consistency between economic law and human rights law
8-Jul-2021 Edinburgh University Press
A human rights-based approach to economic policy-making can result in outcomes from trade negotiations that are not only human rights-consistent but also more politically, socially and economically robust.
Corporate power and abuse is a root cause of migration
29-Jun-2021 People’s World
To seriously address the roots and causes of migration, it is urgent to dismantle the neoliberal rules which grant excessive privileges to transnational corporations.