Oxfam Joins Civil Society Groups Across the Hemisphere to Oppose the FTAA
Trade ministers from every country in the Americas are negotiating a trade agreement that will affect the life of every person from Hudson Bay to Tierra del Fuego. These negotiations take place behind closed doors, excluding the very people the agreement intends to serve. This agreement is known as the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). What will the FTAA cover, and how will its effects be felt by people in this hemisphere?
What is the FTAA?
Few people in the US are aware of it, but this free-trade agreement is being negotiated between all the governments of the Americas and Caribbean (except Cuba) that would extend an open market zone across the entire hemisphere, much like the one which currently exists between Canada, the US, and Mexico. The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would strengthen and extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the entire western hemisphere. It may even go beyond some policies regulated by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Proponents of the FTAA argue that a larger free-trade zone would give smaller countries access to more economic opportunities, such as the expansion of business and trade throughout the region, and stimulate economic growth for all participants. Others see it as the newest manifestation of unfair trade rules that benefit investors and corporations, and create increased hardship for poor communities and entire national economies.
Read Oxfam's new briefing paper: Make Trade Fair for the Americas.
(Para espanol)http://www.oxfam.org/esp/pdfs/pp210103_37_FTAA.pdf
Oxfam is joining with opponents of the FTAA throughout the hemisphere who feel that the agreement would repeat and extend the negative consequences of the NAFTA agreement, which has not uniformly benefited all people across all sectors of society in Canada, the US, and Mexico. NAFTA has accelerated environmental destruction, lowered labor standards in all countries involved, and broadened the gap between rich and poor. Citizen organizations and governments are also concerned that FTAA will reduce each country’s national sovereignty, and make it more difficult to protect the health and safety of communities, the environment, and provide services such as education due to constraints from the trade agreement. This would translate into severe limitations in people’s power over their communities and resources. Others feel that agreements such as the FTAA serve to impose a homogenous economic culture upon a variety of people, cultures and world views. This could destroy genuine diversity in the hemisphere, and impede the development of alternative models of economic development.
Sources of Concern Regarding the FTAA
The advent of this agreement brings a number of questions from people and organizations concerned with social justice and creating opportunities for impoverished communities. The proposed FTAA chapter on investment states that treatment for foreign investors must not be any less favorable than that accorded to domestic investors. There are provisions in the agreement that put a foreign company's "right" to profit ahead of a government's obligation to protect the health and safety of its citizens. Under the agreement, companies can sue for "lost profit" due to environmental or health regulations. Civil society groups fear that this may encourage foreign, private operators to take over the provision of public utilities like water services. This could lead to drastic price increases (as in the recent case of Cochabamba, Bolivia) and threaten citizen’s basic right to clean, healthy water.
In addition, labor unions and workers are concerned that the proposed FTAA text on labor protections will not ensure that internationally recognized workers' rights are upheld. The proposed text contains language that urges countries to "strive to ensure" that national labor laws are not relaxed in order to attract investment. However, relying on such a requirement, with no provisions for enforcement, could lead to the weakening of such labor rights as the freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. In a similar manner, environmental groups are worried that the FTAA does not contain adequate protections for domestic environmental standards. This will pressure governments to weaken their environmental laws in order to attract investment.
If the FTAA moves forward, the US Congress would likely vote on it in late 2005 or early 2006. It is being negotiated by government representatives in closed meetings, which is why there is little news in the US press. (In Latin America, FTAA is very controversial and is being covered widely in the media.) Civil society groups have had minimal opportunities to gain access to the FTAA negotiations and draft documents, and have been sidelined in the formulation of an agreement that has the potential to profoundly change many aspects of their lives. Their efforts to mobilize to protest the agreement are often met with heavy police repression.
Oxfam’s Position
Oxfam is supporting key citizen organizations in the US, Central America, and South America that are advocating for a voice in the formulation of the FTAA, so that the perspective of grassroots communities can be reflected in the agreement.
The proposed text of the FTAA fails to include meaningful labor and environmental protections. It is being negotiated in a manner that is not transparent or engaging of a broad range of civil society actors. Many social groups that stand to be affected by this agreement oppose it. Because of these facts, Oxfam stands with these people's organizations that oppose the FTAA.
Oxfam is working to assist these efforts because it is clear that a comprehensive trade agreement like the FTAA would fail to address the complex issues of poverty if built along the same models of NAFTA and other trade rules supported by the WTO. Oxfam believes that the current international trading system is rigged to benefit the more powerful and wealthy trading partners, and we are calling for a dramatic change to that system. While trade can be an essential means to defeat poverty, if pursued under the current free trade model it would continue to prove disastrous for small-scale farmers, indigenous people, women, and others who are not well connected to those who stand to prosper from unrestrained trade. It is essential that these people and other citizens are brought into the FTAA negotiations in a meaningful and substantive way.
Oxfam America has assisted key citizen organizations make their concerns known about the FTAA at a meeting of trade ministers and negotiators in Quito, Ecuador in November, 2002. Oxfam believes that by supporting these voices, we can help to strengthen the people's movement that stands in opposition to the proposed FTAA.