[CTC] 258 Civil Society Groups: Stop trade negotiations during the COVID-19 outbreak and refocus on saving lives

Fri Apr 17 07:00:08 PDT 2020

Release: April 17, 2020                                             Contact: Deborah James, djames at cepr.net <mailto:djames at cepr.net>
                                                                             Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network

258 Civil Society Groups Call on World Trade Organization (WTO) Members to: Stop all trade and investment treaty negotiations during the COVID-19 outbreak and refocus on access to medical supplies and saving lives

(Geneva) Today, 258 civil society organizations – including global union federations, development advocates, women’s groups, consumer and small business organizations, and environmental groups – from more than 150 countries delivered a letter to members of the WTO. In it, they urge Members of the WTO to: “Stop all trade and investment treaty negotiations during the COVID-19 outbreak and refocus on access to medical supplies and saving lives.” WTO Members meet today on whether to continue negotiations amid the pandemic. The letter was coordinated by the Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) global network. 

Despite the overwhelming need for governments around the world to focus their full efforts on saving lives during the coronavirus pandemic, some governments are still pushing forward negotiations in the WTO as well as in bilateral and other trade negotiations. 

“The first and only priority for trade negotiators at this time should be to remove all obstacles, including intellectual property rules, in existing agreements that hinder timely and affordable access to medical supplies, such as lifesaving medicines, devices, diagnostics and vaccines, and the ability of governments to take whatever steps are necessary to address this crisis,” notes the letter. 

The groups also demand that “Unilateral sanctions that prevent countries from obtaining essential medical supplies must end.” Unilateral sanctions are increasing deaths from Covid-19.

The letter also calls on “WTO Members to ensure that all countries have the flexibilities to set aside trade rules that constrain their ability to resolve the pandemic crisis, without fear of repercussions, and to cease other negotiations and activities that divert their energy and resources from that goal.”

Finally, the letter notes that the WTO should not return to “business as usual” after the crisis, as governments must recognize “that the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates a fundamental re-think of the types of rules that are negotiated in trade agreements, including those that can encourage monopolies and reduce affordable access to all forms of medical supplies, and put at risk the lives of people in every country of the world.”

Charlie Williams, spokesperson of Climate Change Ireland <https://sites.google.com/site/irelandclimatechange/global-warming-will-happen-faster-than-we-think/> says: "Climate protection must become key issue in trade agreements. As governments are now trying to protect the public - in particular the elder and vulnerable - from this pandemic, we also need the same scrutiny to protect our children and grandchildren from catastrophic climate change. Current commitments of the countries are insufficient <https://climateactiontracker.org/> to keep global warming below 2°C, the threshold all countries undersigned in the Paris Agreement <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_dySw3kP_Q>. Anthropogenic global warming is the biggest threat to life as such on our beloved and only planet. We still have time to change that, but this time is running out fast!"

Endorsers include large international networks such as: Action Aid International; Friends of the Earth International; Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ); Greenpeace; Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign; Oxfam International; Social Watch; the Society for International Development (SID); and the Third World Network (TWN); as well as large regional economic justice networks including the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND); the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law & Development (APWLD); the Confederación Sindical de trabajadores/as de las Américas (CSA); the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG); and the Third World Network-Africa, among others. 

It was also supported by global union federations Education International; the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF); the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF); Public Services International (PSI); and UNI Global Union; as well as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). 

Many major national networks also endorsed, such as the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTINET); the Citizens Trade Campaign in the United States; the Council of Canadians/Conseil des Canadiens; the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME); Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ); the Kenya Human Rights Commission; the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions; the Norwegian Trade Campaign; the Rede Brasileira Pela Integração dos Povos (REBRIP) of Brazil; and the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute SEATINI-Uganda; among many others. 

Please see attached the Open Letter to Trade Ministries and the World Trade Organization (WTO).pdf

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The Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) global network of NGOs and social movements works for a sustainable, socially just, and democratic multilateral trading system. 
www.ourworldisnotforsale.net <http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.net/>

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

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