Oxfam: Millions of people threatened by new Trade Agreements

Oxfam Ireland Press Release
21 March 2007

Oxfam today condemned Ireland and other rich countries for supporting trade agreements which threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of people living in poverty in the developing world.

Rich countries are going outside of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to gain concessions from poor countries they cannot get at the WTO with serious implications for poor countries' development says, a new report, published by Oxfam today. Signing Away the Future details how millions of people living in poverty will be denied access to medicines ; jobs in industry and agriculture will be imperilled and governments ' ability to protect their citizens and the environment will be undermined by these agreements.

Twenty-five developing countries have now signed free trade deals with developed countries, with more under negotiation. In total, there are more than 250 regional or bilateral trade agreements in force, governing 30% of world trade.

"Trade is important for growth but these agreements are bad for development. They require enormous irreversible concessions from poor countries and almost nothing in return from rich countries," Colin Roche, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Oxfam Ireland said.

"These deals demand much faster opening to foreign companies and heavier intellectual property rules than the WTO. They strip developing countries of the right to govern their economies and threaten their abilities to protect their poorest people and lift them out of poverty," he added.

In the first 10 years after Mexico finalised its free trade agreement with the United States and Canada (NAFTA), Mexico lost 1.3 million agricultural jobs. Manufacturing jobs were initially created but competition from cheap labour in China led to 200,000 job losses between 2001-4 as firms relocated.

Mexican actor, Gael Garcia Bernal (star of the films Babel and The Motorcycle Diaries) has added his voice to calls for fairer trade rules for poor countries. A supporter of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair Campaign since 2005, the actor has travelled to Mexico to visit farmers affected by unfair trade.

"Mexico has already suffered the impact of free trade deals - I saw it first hand when I met with small-scale producers of maize in Chiapas. It will be worse if they fully liberalize the market for maize, beans, rice and powdered milk. These agreements demonstrate the absence of political will to transform trade into a tool in the fight against poverty," said Bernal.

In Colombia more than five million people could be left without access to medicines if the US-Colombia trade agreement goes ahead, with as many as 900,000 missing out in Peru if their seperate deal with the US goes ahead. Meanwhile, the European Union (including Ireland) is aggressively pursuing free trade agreements with many of the poorest countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. A study commissioned by the EU has predicted that a proposed Economic Partnership Agreement with West Africa will lead to a surge in imports into West Africa of over 15% on key commodities, such as onions, potatoes, beef and poultry, which will devastate the rural sector.

Oxfam's report recommends that all trade rules, whether multilateral, regional or bilateral:

• Recognise that developing countries need special and differential treatment
• Allow developing countries to adopt flexible intellectual property legislation
• Exclude essential services, such as health, from liberalisation commitments
• Recognise the right of governments to regulate foreign investors
• Ensure participation of civil society and other actors in the negotiating process

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Oxfam Ireland is an independent member of Oxfam International- a group of thirteen non-governmental agencies dedicated to fighting poverty and related injustice around the world.

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