Report on the Human Rights Forum
Of the Second Peoples’ Summit of the Americas
Quebec City, 18-04-01

“The FTAA is life-blind”.

Human rights are what underpin the legitimacy of our democracy. 'Whatever the cause of their infringement -- whether racism, sexism, or the subtler violence inherent in free trade – if these rights are not respected, we need not be economists to say no.' was the conclusion of the Human Rights Forum of the Peoples' SUmmit of the AMericas.

Report on the Human Rights Forum
Of the Second Peoples’ Summit of the Americas
Quebec City, 18-04-01
by Adrian H Boss
adri...@hotmail.com

‘Free Trade is incompatible with Human Rights’ was the overwhelming conclusion at the Human Rights Forum of the Peoples’ Summit in Quebec City today. The afternoon’s spirited discussion was triggered by a declaration to be presented at the plenary session of the alternative Summit. The document-in-progress contained recommendations to be considered in relation to the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA). The fifteen clauses put forth by the four-member panel of experts, however, were neither specific nor far-reaching enough. After the committee had outlined the logic behind the phrasing, the floor was literally flooded with representatives of a wide variety of social justice, farmers’, public interest and other groups from across the hemisphere. Although their perspectives were varied -- from an American farmer to a Quebec sociologist, aid workers to academics -- their voices were united: “We cannot consent to a human rights declaration within the scope of an agreement whose logic is that of free trade because this neo-liberal model produces human rights abuses.”
The absence of FTAA transparency and the lack of involvement it imposes upon civil society corrupt the legitimacy of this supposedly democratic process. Maria-Luisa Mendoza of the Brazilian Center for Social Justice intervened first, stating that under FTAA, as is already seen under NAFTA, there is no adequate tribunal to which victims of basic rights abuses can turn: their only recourse is the Organization of American States(OAS). The OAS’ Organization of Intra-American Human Rights Courts is an exclusive rather than inclusive system, which not only is backlogged by thousands of cases but to which victims can only turn after having exhausted their national court system -- which in many Latin American countries is complicit with these very abuses.
“The FTAA is life-blind” claimed another speaker, in the sense that profit is the entity the FTAA’s dispute resolution mechanism will privilege – not people. Indeed, further concerns were raised with respect to drug policies, intellectual property rights and the privatization of natural resources such as water. For example, under free trade legislation, Brazil, which represents approximately 52% of reported AIDS cases in Latin America and the Caribbean, will not be able to produce cheaper, generic AIDS drugs because the 350 billion dollar US pharmaceutical industry will have the right to sue for damages. Other issues included hunger, which is affected by the growing power of transnational agro-industries over small farmers, preventing them from producing their own sustainable crops, as well as education and health care which are not duly considered in the FTAA.
Another person spoke compassionately of the plight of indigenous peoples, and stressed, to loud applause, that the Second People’s Summit of the Americas builds on the agenda of the first Summit in Santiago in 1994? and, as such, “we must be clear and confident in the demands we make, because the public longs for our moral initiative“. This sentiment was echoed by specialists who emphasized the need to educate the population-at-large, and solicit the corporate media, about these legitimate concerns. Human rights are what underpin the legitimacy of our democracy. Whatever the cause of their infringement -- whether racism, sexism, or the subtler violence inherent in free trade – if these rights are not respected, we need not be economists to say no.
While other points remain to be discussed in further detail, such as whether a pan-American referendum ought to be held on the subject of future proposed trade and development talks, the consultative Forum’s conclusions were resounding. Human rights cannot be an appendix or afterthought to free trade negotiations. Human rights are the principles of our social existence. As such, their primacy must be reflected at the head of any agenda, such as the FTAA, which affects so many crucial aspects of our lives.