Parliamentarians come together to promote human rights in the context of trade

Parliamentarians come together to promote human rights in the context of trade

JAKARTA – Governments in the process of negotiating the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) must ensure that the trade deal’s provisions protect human rights. That was the message from parliamentarians and other stakeholders who convened in Jakarta this week to discuss the RCEP and its implications for the region’s citizens during a two-day dialogue organized by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ), and the Extraterritorial Obligation (ETO) Consortium.

The meeting brought together members of parliament from countries involved in the RCEP, international experts, civil society representatives, and government officials to discuss the ongoing negotiations and the trade deal’s likely impact on human rights. At the conclusion of the dialogue, parliamentarians called for more attention to the deal’s human rights implications.

“There are a number of serious concerns with the RCEP, which governments involved in the negotiations have thus far failed to address. Many provisions, if passed in their current form, will have drastic consequences on people’s rights, particularly in Southeast Asia,” said Indonesian MP Mercy Barends, who is also a member of APHR.

“Allowing this deal to go forward without seriously considering its implications would be a grave mistake. We strongly recommend that RCEP negotiators demand the inclusion of a human rights impact assessment mechanism, to ensure that the deal does not end up doing more harm than good. Failure to do so would place people throughout the region at risk of abuse from corporate actors, who, on the whole, already have a poor track record when it comes to protecting human rights and the environment.”

Parliamentarians called for more transparency in the negotiations, which remain closed to public and parliamentary scrutiny, and reiterated concerns about the content of leaked draft sections of the deal related to intellectual property rights (IPR), as well as proposals for the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms.

“The current proposal for IPR protection seriously threatens access to medicine for millions of people by extending patents, which will ultimately cause prices to rise. Access to affordable healthcare, which includes medicines, is a fundamental human right, and limiting this would be a serious violation of that right,” said Malaysian MP Charles Santiago, who serves as APHR’s Chairperson, adding that under ISDS proposals, decisions taken by national parliaments could be overturned by international tribunals that have no public oversight.

“Under pressure from some of the more developed members of the negotiating countries, the RCEP is increasingly seeking to incorporate the more rigid and pro-corporate sections of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The proposed inclusion of an Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism is particularly concerning to us, as it presents a unique threat to justice and the rule of law. ISDS mechanisms are notorious for favoring business interests and represent a threat to national sovereignty and laws at the expense of affected communities and peoples, and we strongly object to allowing this in the RCEP,” Santiago added.

Legislators gathered from across the region pledged to take immediate action to advocate, both at home and at the regional level, against the inclusion of these problematic provisions, as well as to pressure negotiators to ensure greater scrutiny of the entire deal from a human rights perspective.

“In its current form, the RCEP is no different from other free trade agreements that have seriously jeopardized human rights and environmental protections. We need governments, parliamentarians, and the public, including the business community, to step up and demand that public interest comes before global corporate interests. At minimum, we need to open up the negotiations to public scrutiny and parliamentary oversight, and we call on all our governments to commission a cost-benefit analysis of the final RCEP draft that will be made public before any agreement is signed,” said Rep. Tomasito Villarin, a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines.

Click here to read this statement in Bahasa Indonesia.

MP requests halt to trade negotiations in light of Rohingya crisis

MP requests halt to trade negotiations in light of Rohingya crisis

JAKARTA — On the sidelines of ongoing trade negotiations related to the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Malaysian MP Charles Santiago yesterday called for a halt to the trade talks, citing concerns related to the unfolding crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“At present, ASEAN is facing an unprecedented crisis involving one of its partner countries, Myanmar, which is alleged to have unleashed ethnic cleansing on one of its minority populations,” Santiago, who is also Chairperson of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), said during an RCEP stakeholder consultation meeting with civil society in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“My concern, is that in the context of such violence against women and children and a vulnerable community, silence among RCEP trade partners will send the wrong message. In fact, it will violate the ASEAN Charter, which upholds human rights as a core value of the ten-nation bloc. It will also give ammunition to critics that governments involved in the RCEP are motivated by profits and not people. So it would be in the interests of these nations to stop further negotiations on the RCEP until the ethnic cleansing accusation is investigated and resolved.”

Myanmar authorities in northern Rakhine State have waged a brutal counter-insurgency campaign targeting the Rohingya population there since a 9 October attack on police outposts. Access to the area for aid workers and independent journalists has been blocked, but reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and sexual violence have continued to come out. On 24 November, a UNHCR official in Bangladesh, where an estimated 21,000 Rohingya have fled since the start of the violence, voiced concerns about “ethnic cleansing.” The Malaysian Foreign Ministry raised similar concerns in a 3 December statement.

For over a month, APHR and its members have consistently called for a thorough, impartial investigation supported by the international community, including ASEAN. On Wednesday, the collective of lawmakers issued a statement welcoming the Malaysian government’s recent remarks and calling for regional action to protect Rohingya inside Myanmar, as well as those who have fled to neighboring countries.

During the RCEP consultation yesterday, Charles Santiago said that all nations involved in the trade talks should treat these developments with similar concern in order to avoid jeopardizing their legitimacy.

“If the talks are not halted, countries at the RCEP negotiating table will be accused of aiding and abetting ethnic cleansing. This failure will call into question the role of trade in promoting peace, prosperity, and international cooperation. By stopping the negotiations at this time, RCEP countries could change the exiting negative global perception of free trade agreements into a positive one where people matter,” Santiago said.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a proposed free trade agreement between the ten member states of ASEAN, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea. The current talks in Jakarta are the 16th round of negotiations between the 16 countries.