TRADE-AMERICAS: Civil Society Fighting Hard for Inclusion in FTAA

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jun 22 1998 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are fighting tooth and nail not to be left out of the negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Their insistence on effective mechanisms for civil society to participate in the process was so determined that last week’s meeting of deputy ministers of trade from the 34 countries negotiating the creation of a continent-wide free trade area was extended a full day, until a transitory instrument was agreed on.

“We met with deputy ministers and found, in general, a willingness to dialogue, with variations between countries,” Atziri Ibanez, with the U.S. National Wildlife Federation, told IPS. “But openness does not necessarily mean we will be allowed to affect the process, or guarantee that our recommendations will be taken into account.”

In the first meeting of the FTAA Committee on Trade Negotiations, held last week in Buenos Aires, Ibanez spoke for around 20 NGOs which expressed their concerns and fears with respect to the accords.

Although the NGOs were not invited to participate in the plenary session of the meeting, the government delegates, who planned to meet Wednesday and Thursday to come up with instructions for the FTAA working groups, gathered until Friday afternoon due to the debate over the participation of civil society in the talks.

At the second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile in April, representatives of NGOs got the presidents to declare participation by civil society a necessary condition for success and transparency in the long negotiating process towards a free trade area encompassing 800 million people.

As well as the nine working groups on strictly commercial issues, committees were created to allow sectors of civil society to present their views, including the committee of government representatives, which is to act as a link between governments and NGOs.

Defining the role to be played by the committee – which is to receive inputs from sectors of society, analyse them and present the range of views for consideration by FTAA negotiators – overran the time allotted by the Summit agenda in April.

In a previous letter addressed to the chair of the FTAA Negotiating Committee, Canada’s Katryn McCallion, the NGOs had expressed their concern over the different levels of participation granted the business forums and other sectors of civil society up to now.

“We are not against the business community holding its own forums, but we believe that if the committee of government representatives exists, initiatives should be presented through that vehicle, which is the legitimate channel,” said Ibanez. “That is the only way for everyone to participate on an equal footing.”

In the letter to McCallion, the NGOs pointed out that many of them lacked the resources to take part in the process and keep up- to-date, especially compared to the business community, which held a forum parallel to the last meeting of trade ministers in Costa Rica.

“Many citizens fear that governments won’t give their concerns the same treatment as that granted to the interests of multinationals when it comes to negotiating accords on trade and investment,” said the letter.

But the fear seems to be reciprocal. A number of delegates to last week’s meeting said they refused to promote participation by powerful U.S. and Canadian lobbying groups which would only “muddy” the negotiations, in the words of one government official who preferred to remain anonymous.

Some nations suspect that underlying the concerns of environmental lobbying groups are aims to keep Latin American products out of the United States and Canada, under the argument that they fail to comply with the standards of the two countries.

The NGOs also expressed their concern that the committee of government representatives not act as a “filter” for their recommendations, but rather that it be capable of faithfully presenting their viewpoints and drawing up an agenda to deal with problems related to trade and the environment in the FTAA talks.

Finally, after an extra day of debate, the government delegates agreed last week that for the time being sectors of society should present their views in writing, until agreement is reached on a better mechanism which satisfies everyone.

The meeting rejected proposals from the United States and other countries, which wanted participation to take place through hearings, seminars and workshops, more active formulas for promoting intervention by environmental groups, unions and academic institutions.

The delegates of the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) – Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay – suggested the creation of a body similar to the bloc’s Economic and Social Council, basically consisting of representatives of companies and trade unions.

But the suggestion did not catch on among the government delegates. Ibanez, meanwhile, said NGOs which do not participate in the Mercosur Council consider it better than no mechanism at all, but say business interests predominate within the council, which also has many other shortcomings.

Among the groups that have taken part in the FTAA negotiating process up to now figure the Environmental Law Centres of Costa Rica, Mexico and Ecuador, the Uruguay-based Latin American Centre for Social Ecology, Argentina’s Environment and Natural Resources Foundation, and the U.S. National Wildlife Federation.

The NGOs said public participation in the trade talks was the key to keeping the countries of Latin America from seeing environmental protection as a barrier to trade. They stressed that they would not yield in their struggle to be part of the process which is to culminate in the launching of a hemispheric free trade area in the year 2005.