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News from the movements

Corporate courts can be beaten. It’s essential for climate justice
2-Mar-2022 Global Justice Now
It is perfectly possible to withdraw from trade deals containing corporate courts, as former South African trade minister Rob Davies explains.
NZ UK FTA “inclusive trade” agenda does nothing to redress failed free trade model
1-Mar-2022 Scoop
Professor Kelsey repeated the calls for a comprehensive rethink of this model of free trade agreements to confront the social, environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century.
Briefers on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) vs Women’s Human Rights
1-Mar-2022 APWLD
APWLD is launching new Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) vs Women’s Human Rights briefers which elaborate on how ISDS is incompatible with human rights principles.
Decision by arbitral tribunal on deep sea mining impacts Mexican fisherfolk
25-Feb-2022 CIEL
The ICSID announced their rationale for a decision to reject a non-disputing party submission (amicus curiae) filed by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).
The EU-Mercosur free trade agreement: A critical analysis and an alternative
23-Feb-2022 TNI
The EU-Mercosur trade agreement leads to the destruction of nature, violation of land rights of farmers and Indigenous people and loss of industrial jobs in the Mercosur countries.
A Koched-up NAFTA lawsuit
22-Feb-2022 CCPA
Koch claims that Ontario’s abrupt cancellation of its cap-and-trade system in 2018 violated the NAFTA Chapter 11 minimum standard of treatment and expropriation clauses.
Toxic mine to re-open after Australian gold miner sues Thai Government
15-Feb-2022 AFTINET
Environmental defenders in Thailand have slammed a decision by the Thai Government to reinstate formerly revoked mining licenses following a lengthy legal battle in an international arbitration tribunal.
Parliamentary committee recommends that UK and Taiwan should join the CPTPP, but not China
14-Feb-2022 AFTINET
Australian trade committee recommends that Australia support the applications of the UK and Taiwan, but places conditions on support for China’s accession.
An India-UK trade deal could mean a race to the bottom for Indian workers
1-Feb-2022 New Internationalist
On farmers and food, vaccine inequality, climate justice and digital rights, we need to act in solidarity – and not allow trade rules to sacrifice people to corporate profit.
Trade justice advocates to senators: Which side are you on?
31-Jan-2022 Trade Justice - Pilipinas
Trade Justice Pilipinas reiterates its call to the Senate to deny concurrence to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Trade agreements are colonial tools to control lands, resources and labour, says Canadian activist Stefan Christoff
24-Jan-2022 bilaterals.org
Interview with Stefan Christoff, media maker, musician and community activist living in Montreal.
Investor–state disputes in the fossil fuel industry
24-Jan-2022 IISD
The fossil fuel industry is the most litigious industry in the ISDS system by number of cases, accounting for almost 20% of the total known ISDS cases across all sectors.
Dangerous man, dangerous deals
24-Jan-2022 Greenpeace
Why the EU should not strengthen relations with Bolsonaro.
Energy Charter Treaty claim pushes Slovenia to weaken fracking rules
17-Jan-2022 Friends of the Earth Europe
A new example of how this secretive corporate court system is undermining climate and environmental policies of EU member states has been brought to light.
When free trade is not free
21-Dec-2021 Mail & Guardian
If the states of the world take seriously their own rhetorical commitments to climate change mitigation, job creation, and sustainable development, they must reject the free trade paradigm.
The tale of the dead oil pipeline and the zombie trade agreement
17-Dec-2021 The Monitor
The Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline was back in the news last week for a couple of reasons.
Australia deal is a disaster for UK climate policy
17-Dec-2021 Trade Justice Movement
The UK has just signed a trade deal with Australia, a country with one of the world’s worst records on tackling climate change.
What might be the impact of the Australia trade deal on British food and farming
16-Dec-2021 Sustain
Approximately 40% of Australia’s total beef supply is produced in intensive feedlot systems where the animals are kept in close confinement and fed largely on grain rather than pasture.
The future of arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty
15-Dec-2021 Client Earth
This legal briefing explains how the implications of the Komstroy ruling, alongside other recent CJEU decisions, on pending and future intra-EU ISDS claims.
33 groups call for tougher stance on vaccine apartheid in trade negotiations
13-Dec-2021 Scoop
33 domestic and international groups have written to NZ Prime Minister, calling for NZ to use its bilateral trade negotiations with the United Kingdom and European Union to push for an end to vaccine apartheid.