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Call for Transparency in FTAA Negotiations Brings Repercussions but no Results The list of demands is impressive, but it shows that the HSA still has organizational problems. Several countries with important trade union movements should have signed but are not present. The same can be said for civil society organizations, especially in the Caribbean. These groups may participate in the HSA, but the alliance's newly established Secretariat in Mexico City is still not adequately funded to maintain the level of communications necessary. Other civil society efforts whose web pages are linked to AmericasNet have a stronger public image through the efforts of entities such as the OAS, IDB and USAID. However, the message of the HSA - greater transparency, broader participation, deeper concern for the environment and, most especially, more equity and respect for the rights of common folk - has found resonance. The Argentine government, although it was unable to comply with the demand to release the drafts negotiated up to now, has committed its support and promised to raise the question once again at the April meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee in Buenos Aires. A similar drive based on the HSA letter in Chile has received positive mention in the local press. The local HSA network, Alianza Chilena para un Comercio Justo y Responsable, has joined the Chilean government in sponsoring a December 7 "consultation" with civil society groups timed to precede Mercosur's Florianópolis meeting. In Brazil, too, the topic of transparency as well as the question of alternative strategies was discussed at an international seminar in São Paulo on November 27-28. Top representatives of CEPAL, the OAS and other international organizations as well as top Brazilian trade negotiators discussed these and other subjects with labor and civil society leaders from throughout the hemisphere. The Brazilian Network "REBRIP," the local HSA affiliate, organized the event. One of the new organizations present was the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas, whose president, Congressman Geraldo Magela, was among the speakers. All of these repercussions are not results, however. As Argentina's foreign minister was quick to point out to the delegation that presented him with the HSA letter, the FTAA's decisions are based on consensus. Too many nations prefer to keep the negotiations behind closed doors. The documents won't be disclosed. The best that can be said is that civil society has advanced its agenda in the hemisphere despite the resistance of the trade negotiating community and a handful of countries. "We are writing to express the growing concern of civil-society organizations throughout the Americas about the secrecy of the negotiation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). We urge you to publish the current negotiating texts of the FTAA so that an informed public debate on the nature of that accord can take place. We understand that the official mechanism to channel civil society participation in the FTAA process is supposed to be the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society. Many of us have submitted documents to that Committee, but it is an inadequate mechanism. Even if all submissions were accurately and completely transmitted to the ministers, the result is not the participation of civil society in this process but simply a one-way communication. It is impossible for us to engage in a serious dialogue on the FTAA when we do not know the actual content of the negotiations. We understand that the negotiations in many sectors are quite advanced, but virtually no public information is available on the content of those talks. The establishment of an FTAA would involve much more than a simple reduction of tariffs. The trade liberalization, in additions to provisions on services, investment, agriculture, intellectual property rights and other issues under negotiation, could clearly have far-reaching impacts on our economies, societies and environments. In each of the Summits of the Americas, pronouncements have been made on the commitment of the 34 governments participating in this process to strengthen democracy throughout the hemisphere. The secrecy of the FTAA negotiations contradicts that laudable goal. Even the representatives of our respective legislative bodies have not been fully informed of the substance of the FTAA negotiations. If the FTAA is to serve to advance the interests of all of the peoples of the Americas, then there must be a healthy public debate on the nature of such an accord. That debate will not be possible until accurate and up-to-date information is available on the content of the FTAA negotiations. The Chilean government recently published the annotated outlines from some of the negotiating groups as part of its dialogue with representatives of Chilean civil society. We welcome the precedent that this dissemination establishes. At this time, we urge the TNC to publish immediately the current negotiating texts from each of the nine negotiating groups. We would also appreciate receiving copies of the texts that each of the negotiating groups delivers to the ministers at the end of the year. We also request
that you send us lists of our governments' representatives to each of
the negotiating groups in order to facilitate the process of dialogue.
We look forward to hearing from you on this matter. Please direct
responses to this letter to Hector de la Cueva, Executive Secretary of
the Hemispheric Social Alliance." |