September 17, 2019: AFTINET Convener, Dr Pat Ranald, has published an op-ed in the Conversation today about progress in RCEP negotiations after Malaysia’s trade minister Datuk Darell Leiking revealed that Malaysia and each of the other 15 parties to the RCEP negotiations had agreed to exclude ISDS provisions from the deal.
September 16, 2019: German company Uniper has threatened to bring an ISDS case against the Dutch government after a decision to ban coal-based power generation by 2030.
September 12, 2019: AFTINET held a Parliamentary Forum on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement on Wednesday 11 September in order to inform Parliamentarians of the social and environmental risks of the agreement and provide an update on progress in the negotiations.
September 9, 2019: The South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries, has released a new report analysing ISDS cases relating to Intellectual Property rules in international investment agreements and trade agreements with investment provisions.
September 5, 2019: Concern about human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong could lead to a delay in the ratification of the Hong Kong trade and investment agreements. This comes after civil society and Union groups, including AFTINET and the ACTU, called on the government to delay voting on the implementing legislation for the agreements until after the human rights situation was resolved.
September 4, 2019: International peasant’s Movement, La Via Campesina, has called for an International Day of Struggle against the WTO and Free Trade Agreements on September 10. The event marks the anniversary of the death of South Korean farmer and activist Lee Kyung Hae, who took his own life at the WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico in 2003.
September 2, 2019: AFTINET has joined with the ACTU, APHEDA and other Union and community groups to stand in solidarity with workers’ and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
August 28, 2019: The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has called on the Government to delay ratification of the recently signed trade and investment agreements with Hong Kong until concerns about human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters have been resolved.
August 27, 2019: European Union leaders have threatened to block the ratification of the recently signed trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur countries of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in response to Brazil’s handling of the Amazon forest fires.