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sovereignty | democracy

Honduras advocates to defend its territorial integrity
2-Jun-2023 Prensa Latina
This is related to the complaint made the day before by government functionaries on the absence of legality in the litigation that the ICSID opened on the case of the Employment and Economic Development Zone (ZEDE) against the Government.
209 Civil Society Organisations say: EU trade deals must not undermine democratic rights
24-Nov-2022 S2B Network
We civil society organizations vehemently oppose the splitting of trade deals, which would circumvent existing concerns about the negative implications of these deals on biodiversity, climate change and human rights issues.
LNP secrecy deal for Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) challenges Labor policy for trade transparency
4-Oct-2022 AFTINET
The US Trade Representative Office has confirmed that it signed secrecy agreements with Australia and 12 other members of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in April 2022.
100+ civil society groups ask White House for transparency in IPEF deal
25-Jul-2022 Public Citizen
Public, congressional input is essential to prevent another TPP.
Honduran government repeals ZEDEs law amid warnings of free trade agreement rights and arbitration
2-May-2022 Peace Brigades International Canada
The ZEDEs are free from import and export taxes, but could set up their own internal forms of government, as well as courts, security forces, schools and even social security systems.
North African standoff: How the Western Sahara conflict is fuelling new tensions between Morocco and Algeria
11-Apr-2022 European Council on Foreign Relations (ecfr.eu)
Tensions between Morocco and Algeria have risen lately, and there is now a heightened risk of armed conflict arising and the escalation is rooted in the dispute over the status of Western Sahara.
foodwatch submits complaint to the European Ombudsman against CETA
2-Dec-2021 Foodwatch
The complaint addresses the lack of transparency and democratic deficits of the CETA committees’ work.
Jane Kelsey: Such a good free trade greement with the UK, we aren’t allowed to read it
25-Oct-2021 NZ Herald
With the release of an Agreement in Principle for a New Zealand United Kingdom free trade agreement we are once again left shadow boxing with a deal whose text we aren’t allowed to see.
Government bars unions from ‘seat at the table’ in trade talks
2-Sep-2021 The Independent
UK Prime Minister and the trade department are blocking trade unions from sensitive trade talks despite unions’ offers to sign confidentiality agreements, according to leading labour representatives.
The limits of sovereignty
13-Aug-2021 Dawn
Terminating 23 BITs is an important step for Pakistan, but if relationships with the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank remain, economic efficiency will continue to be prioritised over social justice and the rights of citizens.
Two-thirds feel ‘left in the dark’ about impact of post-Brexit trade deals
13-Aug-2021 The Independent
A quarter of consumers who took part in a poll said they felt the British Government was “not at all open” about the impact of new trade deals.
Brexit: Western Sahara indy campaign takes UK Government to court
3-Aug-2021 The National
A CAMPAIGN group backing independence in Western Sahara is to take the UK Government to court over a post-Brexit trade agreement with Morocco.
Phil Hogan appointed to business that lobbies European Commission
23-Jul-2021 The Irish Times
Former EU commissioner Phil Hogan has taken on an advisory role with a business that carries out activities to influence the EU policy and decision-making process.
Denying India its tax revenue is neo-colonialism. Cairn Energy is the new East India Company!
28-May-2021 The Leaflet
The perverse interplay of BITs with double taxation avoidance agreements has been bleeding India from the much-needed tax revenues.
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.
India has been short-changed by Vodafone and Cairn arbitral awards
27-Apr-2021 The Leaflet
The international economic law regime has stripped India of over $3.8 billion in taxes due by Vodafone and Cairn Energy, as the country is battling the Covid19 crisis.
Trade agreements like NAFTA are a menace to democracy
5-Mar-2021 Jacobin
Free-trade agreements enable companies to sue governments if they interfere with profit-making activities, no matter how destructive. These trade deals put us in an antidemocratic straitjacket — it’s time we got rid of them.
Brexit talks are as transparent as the muddy tunnel they’re held in
27-Nov-2020 Open Democracy
In whose interests is the UK government negotiating post-Brexit trade deals? They would rather you didn’t know.
Government ordered to reveal more secrets about post-Brexit trade talks
15-Sep-2020 Huffington Post
Campaigners had challenged the Department for International Trade (DIT) over its "hostile approach to freedom of information law".
US seeking control over UK’s trade sovereignty
11-May-2020 CGTN
Any potential trade deal will be more about what the US can take from Britain’s markets rather than what it will give, with big pushes to open up agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors to American businesses.