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Action Alert: Canada negotiating Central American free trade deal
in secret
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During the week of February 16-20 2004, Canadian trade negotiators will continue to hammer out a free trade agreement with several Central American nations. They will do this in effective secrecy. Currently Canadians have no access to the text of the agreement that is being negotiated in our name, and little say in these negotiations. KAIROS asks you to make your concerns heard. Write to the federal Minister of International Trade and tell him that you don’t support secret trade negotiations that undermine the democratic rights of Canadian citizens and the basic human rights of Central Americans. |
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Contents
- Introduction: The FTAA is not the only danger
- CAFTA, CA4, FTAA: The Post-Miami approach to negotiations
- What about Canada’s position?
- What you can do
- Sample letter
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Introduction: The FTAA is not the only danger |
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Most Canadians now know about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the overarching trade and investment agreement involving 34 of our hemisphere’s 35 countries, and scheduled to be signed by 2005. As part of the 2002-3 Living Hope Campaign, KAIROS participated in KAIROS partner Common Frontier’s No to the FTAA Campaign. Church and network members gathered more than 8,000 signatures out of a total of over 63,000 on a petition calling on our government to stop the FTAA and all trade deals that privilege corporate rights over human rights. (For complete information see the FTAA e-kit)
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CAFTA, CA4, FTAA: The Post-Miami approach to negotiations |
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However, most people do not know that Canada and the US have been quietly negotiating bilateral and plurilateral trade and investment agreements throughout the Americas even as FTAA negotiations continue. These negotiations are effectively held in secret, despite repeated government promises to disclose the negotiating text of the agreements and to include Canadian citizens in consultations about the agreement.
At the November 2003 gathering of trade ministers in Miami, the US and Canada weren’t able to advance the comprehensive FTAA agenda, due to growing resistance from Southern governments and from protestors from every country and background. Instead, they announced a series of bilateral (country to country) negotiations. Under this plan, the FTAA would include two levels: the first tier would include a common minimum set of obligations for all 34 countries, and the second tier would involve a deeper set of optional commitments undertaken plurilaterally-- that is by several countries together.
In other words, the FTAA agenda would be cobbled together either as a series of individual pieces brought together or as one big mega-deal. In many respects these bilateral deals are a deathblow to the smaller, weaker economies in our hemisphere. Often governments enter into these deals hoping to gain market access to the lucrative markets of the US and Canada for their goods. By negotiating bilaterally, the US and Canada are able to use strong-arm tactics to fulfill their own interests at the expense of the smaller economies that are unable to defend themselves on this acutely unequal playing field. And at the end of the day, the actual market access gains made by countries like those in Central America pale in comparison to what they have to give up, in terms of their national sovereignty, food sovereignty and control over resources and public services.
Currently both Canada and the US are negotiating these types of deals with the small nations of Central America. The US plurilateral trade agreement includes Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. This deal is commonly known as the Central American Free trade Agreement, or CAFTA.
In a similar vein, Canada is pursuing negotiations with all of the same countries except Costa Rica in a process known as the Canada-CA4 Free Trade agreement. The US negotiations have concluded and the deal has gone to the US Congress and the Central American parliaments for ratification despite huge mobilizations and resistance in both Central America and the US.
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What about Canada’s position? |
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After the US, Latin America and the Caribbean are fast becoming our most important trading partners. We now export the same amount of products to the region as we do to India, Indonesia, Russia, France, Germany and Eastern Europe combined. Clearly, trade in the Americas will continue to be a priority for the Canadian government.
Currently, Canada is negotiating a trade and investment deal, called the Canada – CA4, with Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. This deal is also based on the flawed NAFTA model. For over two years, our government has kept these negotiations far from public scrutiny despite repeated demands for transparency and accountability. In “Free Trade Deals: What You Don’t See May Be What You Get,” Global Economic Justice Report, Volume 2, Number 1, February 2003, KAIROS researched and analyzed the Canada-CA4 and the false prospects that trade liberalization schemes like this one hold for just and sustainable development in this economically poor region of our world.
As part of the Americas Policy Group (APG) of the CCIC, KAIROS
has produced a Statement on the negotiations that includes recommendations
like the need for transparency and accountability, and need for
primacy of human rights over and above trade law. To read the statement
and the recommendations go to: http://www.ccic.ca/e/docs/003_apg_cafta_pettigrew_statement.pdf
So far, our advocacy has fallen on deaf ears. Canadian representatives
continue to negotiate in secret, and to this point have shown little
regard for ensuring democratic consultation here at home and well-being
and sustainable development for our Central American neighbours.
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What you can do |
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Canadian negotiators will be behind closed doors the week of February 16th – 20th, 2004 trying to lock up a NAFTA-style agreement that will only bring more poverty and inequality to the people of Central America while facilitating Canadian corporate access.
Make your voice heard! Send a message to Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Jim Peterson. Tell him that Canadians won’t stand for a deal that is secretive, undemocratic and doesn’t respect human rights. Look below to find suggested text for Action Alert Letter.
For more information contact Rusa Jeremic, Program Coordinator,
Global Economic Justice
at rjeremic
or 416 463 5312 x225
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SAMPLE LETTER |
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Hon. James Peterson
Minister of International Trade
125 Sussex Ave. Ottawa, ON, email: Peterson.J
Dear Minister Peterson,
I am writing to express my concerns surrounding Canada’s negotiations with several Central American countries. This week Canadian negotiators under your directive are negotiating with their Central American counterparts behind closed doors.
I am deeply concerned by the lack of transparency in the negotiations for the Canada – Central America 4 (Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras) proposed bilateral agreement. The Canadian public and our elected representatives have the right to be fully informed about these negotiations, beginning with the timely release of draft texts. At the Summit of the Americas in 2001, Canada played a leadership role in ensuring that draft FTAA negotiating texts be released regularly. Yet to date, the Canadian government has not released the CA4 draft text.
Moreover, any trade and investment negotiations in which Canada
engages must assure the primacy of human rights law over trade law.
The Canadian churches continue to be gravely concerned with evidence
that trade agreements such as NAFTA undermine rather than enhance
equality and human security. During the civil wars in Central America,
Canada played a leadership role in promoting and safeguarding the
human rights of our Central American neighbours. Now, in the context
of negotiating a bilateral trade deal, what concrete measures has
our government taken to ensure the primacy of human rights in our
trade relationship with Central American nations?
As part of the cross-Canada KAIROS network, I participated in the
No to the FTAA Campaign, alongside millions of others citizens across
the Americas. We called on the Canadian government to remove the
investment provision Chapter 11 from NAFTA and to ensure that it
is not reproduced in any other trade agreement including the Canada-CA4.
Chapter 11 has threatened the human and environmental health of
Canadians, Mexicans, and Americans by granting corporations the
unprecedented right to sue governments over national legislation
that protects health and the environment. What measures have Canadian
negotiators taken to address these concerns and ensure that Chapter
11 does not appear in the CA4?
I anxiously await your reply.
Sincerely,
Cc: Claude Carriere, Chief Negotiator
claude.carriere
Rusa Jeremic, Program Coordinator, Global Economic Justice
rjeremic
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