“Over 20 international representatives of health, union, consumer and environment organisations have been locked out of the Trans-Pacific talks venue in Auckland,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convenor of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
"Many have travelled long distances at great expense, with no advance warning that they would be locked out for nine of the ten days of the negotiations.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations between the US, Australia, New Zealand, and 8 other countries around the Pacific Rim, will be held in Auckland December 2 –12.
Community groups and unions are opposing the TPPA's corporate driven agenda, which seeks greater rights for international corporations at the expense of people; extending patents on medicines to charge higher prices for longer and with less regulation; stronger copyright laws on the Internet restricting Internet freedom; and rights for foreign investors to sue governments for damages if a law or policy harms their investment.
AVAAZ, the global online campaign, aims to get 1 million signatures for its petition on the TPP at the Auckland negotiations.
Read on and sign the petition today!
On Sunday 9th September AFTINET Convenor, Dr Patricia Ranald, gave a presentation on the Philip Morris case and the dangers of Investor State Dispute Settlements to negotiators at the Stakeholders Forum of the Trans-Pacific Partnership 14th Round in Leesburg, Virginia.
Read the full paper here
Also check out the coverage of the presentation in The Sydney Morning Herald, Big Tobacco warning at free-trade talks
With the Trans-Pacific Partnership's 14th Round of negotiations coming to a end and word of the talks continuing well in to the new year, activist from Occupy DC, the nearest Occupy group to the negotiations venue in Leesburg, Va., have made sure the negotiators didn't finish up their secret talks without hearing the views of the 99%.
Our US friends at Citizen Trade Campaign (CTC) created a new program that allowed the public to send twitter-style messages to the trade negotiators at the latest round of Trans Pacific Partnership talks in Lessberg, Virginia.
Individuals sent their own personal tweet via the CTC website which were then projected up on a wall inside the resort where TPPA negotiators were meeting on Sunday, September 9.
Tweets such as "#TPP threatens the economy, the environment and democracy, not to mention the lives of millions!! I have a right to know what is being proposed in my name. #openTPP", sent by one individual on Sunday, helped send a powerful message, reminding negotiators that the world is watching them.
Fair Deal or No Deal!
Send the Minister for Trade and the Opposition Trade Spokesperson a message, or ask your local MP.
As pressure mounts to finish the Trans-Pacific (TPPA) trade negotiations, email Richard Marles and Julie Bishop directly to tell them your concerns about the TPPA and its corporate-influenced agenda.
Check out the all the latest stories on the trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) circulating in the worlds Media.
AFTINET welcomes the High Court decision against big tobacco's challenge to plain packaging legislation as a vindication of the Government’s right to regulate tobacco as an addictive substance that still kills 15,000 Australians per year.
But the government still faces two more legal challenges from big tobacco, which is desperate to stop Australia setting an example by implementing the plain packaging recommendations of the World Health Organisation.
The Philip Morris tobacco company is currently suing the Australian government over its tobacco plain packaging legislation, using an obscure 1993 Hong Kong- Australia investment treaty despite being a US-based company. Big tobacco is also reportedly providing legal advice and funding to the Ukraine and Honduras Governments which have launched a complaint in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the grounds that the Australian legislation is contrary to a WTO intellectual property agreement.
“We welcome the European Parliament’s overwhelming cross-party decision to reject the ACTA, and hope that similar proposals in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations this week in San Diego will also be rejected,” Dr Patricia Ranald, Convenor of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said today.
June, 2012
Australia says no to investor rights to sue in leaked Trans-Pacific trade chapter, fair trade groups demand release of all text