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RCEP & investment

ASEAN Parliamentarians call for a focus on rights in regional trade talks
24-Jul-2017 Asian Tribune
Officials from ASEAN member states and other countries meeting in India this week for negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) should take steps to ensure that the trade deal safeguards human rights, Southeast Asian lawmakers said today.
Why RCEP is more dangerous than bilateral investment treaties
28-Jul-2017 Jakarta Post
Crucial to RCEP’s investment protection chapter is the highly controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism, a system of privatised justice characterised by international arbitration tribunals outside of the reach of domestic legal systems, explains Cecilia Olivet of TNI
Tell us who gains from RCEP: People’s Forum demands as RCEP talks end
28-Jul-2017 People’s Forum against FTAs and RCEP
“Tell us at least now who gains from RCEP,” People’s Forum challenges the Indian government as the 19th round of RCEP negotiations comes to an end
Duterte’s RCEP push at ASEAN, implications on Philippines economy & development
16-Aug-2017 IBON
The more far-reaching implication of RCEP is for Philippines’s sovereignty in regulating foreign investments
CSOs challenge PH trade negotiators: Take Philippines out of RCEP!
7-Sep-2017 People over Profit
Philippine civil society groups and social movements stand together to oppose RCEP
RCEP: Robbing communities to extract profit
14-Oct-2017 APWLD
RCEP will give multinational corporations unprecedented rights
5 hidden costs of the RCEP to people and planet
17-Oct-2017 The Diplomat
The RCEP has hidden costs for people’s lives
ASEAN economic integration by whom? for whom?
9-Nov-2017 APRN
ASEAN member states must end policies, laws and institutional practices, including free trade and investment agreements that violate the people’s rights.
Free trade or women’s rights?
5-Jan-2018 Strategic Review
After 30 years of neoliberal globalization, it has been increasingly acknowledged that austerity, privatization, deregulation of finance, markets and corporations, and trade and investment liberalization have had a devastating and discriminatory impact on women.
RCEP talks in Indonesia focus on concessions, crafting of sensitive list
5-Feb-2018 Business Mirror
As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made significant headway in January, negotiating countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are pressured to conclude the trade deal, and they try to make progress in the ongoing talks in Indonesia.
Why we must ban secret corporate courts from trade deals
3-May-2018 Friends of the Earth Australia
The ISDS system impedes on national sovereignty to the benefit of corporations, yet places no obligations on investors to behave responsibly, creating an asymmetric system that gives multinationals the same rights as sovereign states.
Investor vs state interests debate heats up
16-Jul-2018 Bangkok Post
Ahead of the 23rd round of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership there has been growing concern over its investment chapters that will let foreign investors’ benefits overrride public interests.
RCEP agreement puts future of Thai people at risk
24-Jul-2018 Bangkok Post
The Thai government is about to enter a trade deal that could seriously harm the reform agenda and deprive communities of the ability to make decisions for fear of violating investors’ rights.
Oral Statement: Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ) for the 23rd round RCEP negotiation, Bangkok, Thailand, July 23rd, 2018
25-Jul-2018 IGJ
Redlines for investment provision in RCEP negotiation
Asia’s evolving ‘free’ trade deal may not benefit workers
3-Aug-2018 Manila Times
Labor unions and workers’ rights advocates fear that the secretive RCEP agreement will further erode workers’ rights in the Asian region, while strengthening the hands of investors who may be able to sue governments for changing laws such as setting minimum wages, that would erode their profitability.
RCEP talks: India manages major breakthrough
5-Sep-2018 Financial Express
New Delhi won’t not take additional commitment on intellectual property rights beyond the TRIPS agreement it has already accepted at the WTO; investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism only for limited sectors.
RCEP countries open to easing investment rules, agree to ease ISDS clauses
10-Sep-2018 Business Standard
In a bid to fast-track the deal, most nations have agreed to ease the investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses.
Investment protection proposals under RCEP threaten India’s pharma industry
15-Mar-2019 The Wire
Free trade agreements like the RCEP will infringe on India’s intellectual property laws. India must stand its ground in the interest of public health.
Corporations have ’hijacked justice’
9-Jul-2019 The Ecologist
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal would undermine environmental protections in Asia.
Is NZ about to accept investment disputes in RCEP?
31-Jul-2019 Scoop Politics
There is a high risk that New Zealand would still allow the investor to sue New Zealand in this expensive and discredited system of international investment arbitration