TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jul15/20)

27 July 2015

Third World Network

Dear friends and colleagues,

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is being rushed to finalization this week, we are pleased to share with you a report on the Potential human rights impacts of the TPP by Sanya Reid Smith of Third World Network. She has followed the negotiations closely over the past few years.

The 152-page report with extensive references summarises some of the ways in which the TPP can harm human rights. The analysis only examines the impact on recommendations and comments by United Nations (UN) Special Procedures mandate-holders and other UN human rights bodies, and so there are other human rights which are likely to be adversely affected by the TPP which are not covered here.

In a statement on the TPP and other free trade agreements, 10 UN Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts expressed concern about the secret way in which they have been negotiated and their potential adverse impacts on human rights (including the rights to life, food, water and sanitation, health, housing, education, science and culture, improved labour standards, an independent judiciary and a clean environment).

The relevant TPP provisions which go beyond the World Trade Organization

(WTO) rules are outlined in Annex 1 of the report. Since the TPP governments have refused to release the text, this assessment is based on other publicly available documents. While other WTO, free trade agreement and bilateral investment treaty disputes are unlikely to set precedents for TPP interpretation, they are often likely to be followed, so some of these interpretations have been noted.

The full report is available here

With best wishes,