[asia-apec 1737] ATTENTION --- Civil Society Activists Around the World!

[Anuradha Mittal]

ATTENTION --- Civil Society Activists Around the World!

Although the Battle of Seattle was successful in preventing a new 
comprehensive round of global trade talks from going ahead, this did not 
mean there would not be trade negotiations at the WTO. On the contrary, 
a whole new set of WTO talks on global trade in 'services' began in 
February, 2000, with formal negotiations due to begin this spring after 
a crucial stocktaking session is completed at the end of March. These so 
called GATS negotiations [General Agreement on Trade in Services] could 
have a dramatic and profound effect on a wide range of public services 
and citizens' rights all over the world.

Below is a statement, Stop the GATS Attack Now!, which has been prepared 
by an international network of civil society organizations working on 
WTO issues. As with previous initiatives like No New Round! and Shrink 
or Sink!, we hope this statement will help to launch and link together a 
series of country-based campaigns on the GATS negotiations all over the 
world.

We would greatly appreciate it if your organization would consider 
signing-on to this statement as soon as possible. The procedures for 
doing so are outlined below. It is our intention to collect sign-ons 
from civil society organizations in as many countries as possible before 
formally launching the statement in mid-March prior to the GATS 
stocktaking meetings in Geneva later that month. So, please let us know 
soon if your organization can sign-on!

Instructions on how your organization can sign the letter: (This is an 
organizational sign-on letter only. We will not be adding individuals to 
it)

1) Send an e-mail to polarisinstitute at on.aibn.com 2) In the subject line 
type in "GATS Attack signatory" 3) In the body of the e-mail list the 
organization & country (contact information such as address, phone & fax 
is also appreciated) that you are signing on. Those who wish should 
mention how many people the organization represents.



Stop the GATS Attack Now!

As civil society groups fighting for democracy through fair trade and 
investment rules, we reject the outright dismissal by the World Trade 
Organization [WTO], some of its member governments and allied 
corporations of the vital concerns raised by civil society before, 
during and after Seattle. The smoke and pepper spray had barely lifted 
from the streets of Seattle when the WTO launched new negotiations to 
expand global rules on cross border trade in services in a manner that 
would create vast new rights and access for multinational service 
providers and newly constrain government action taken in the public 
interest world wide. These talks would radically restructure the role of 
government regarding public access to essential social services world 
wide to the detriment of the public interest and democracy itself.

Initiated in February 2000, these far-reaching negotiations are aimed at 
expanding the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS] regime 
so as to subordinate democratic governance in countries throughout the 
world to global trade rules established and enforced by the WTO as the 
supreme body of global economic governance. What's more, these GATS 2000 
negotiations are taking place behind closed doors based on collusion 
with global corporations and their extensive lobbying machinery.

The existing GATS regime of the WTO, initially established in 1994, is 
already comprehensive and far reaching. The current rules seek to phase 
out gradually all governmental "barriers" to international trade and 
commercial competition in the services sector. The GATS covers every 
service imaginable - including public services -in sectors that affect 
the environment, culture, natural resources, drinking water, health 
care, education, social security, transportation services, postal 
delivery and a variety of municipal services. Its constraints apply to 
virtually all government measures affecting trade-in-services, from 
labor laws to consumer protection, including regulations, guidelines, 
subsidies and grants, licensing standards and qualifications, and 
limitations on access to markets, economic needs tests and local content 
provisions.

Currently, the GATS rules apply to all modes of supplying or delivering 
a service including foreign investment, cross-border provisions of a 
service, electronic commerce and international travel. Moreover, the 
GATS features a hybrid of both a "top-down" agreement [where all sectors 
and measures are covered unless they are explicitly excluded] and a 
"bottom-up" agreement [where only sectors and measures which governments 
explicitly commit to are covered]. What this means is that presently 
certain provisions apply to all sectors while others apply only to those 
specific sectors agreed to.

The new GATS negotiations taking place now in the World Trade 
Organization are designed to further facilitate the corporate takeover 
of public services by:

1) Imposing new and severe constraints on the ability of governments to 
maintain or create environmental, health, consumer protection and other 
public interest standards through an expansion of GATS Article VI on 
Domestic Regulation. Proposals include a 'necessity test' whereby 
governments would bear the burden of proof in demonstrating that any of 
their countries laws and regulations are  'not more burdensome than 
necessary,' (in other words, the least trade restrictive) regardless of 
financial, social, technological or other considerations.

2) Restricting the use of government funds for public works, municipal 
services and social programs. By imposing the WTO's National Treatment 
rules on both government procurement and subsidies, the new negotiations 
seek to require governments to make public funds allocated for public 
services directly available to foreign-based, private service 
corporations.

3) Forcing governments to grant unlimited Market Access to foreign 
service providers, without regard to the environmental and social 
impacts of the quantity or size of service activities.

4) Accelerating the process of providing corporate service providers 
with guaranteed access to domestic markets in all sectors - including 
education, health and water - by permitting them to establish their 
Commercial Presence in another country through new WTO rules being 
designed to promote tax-free electronic commerce worldwide. This would 
guarantee transnational corporations speedy irreversible market access, 
especially in Third World countries.

The chief beneficiaries of this new GATS regime are a breed of corporate 
service providers determined to expand their global commercial reach and 
to turn public services into private markets all over the world. Not 
only are the services industries the fastest growing sector of the new 
global economy, but also health, education and water are shaping up to 
be the most lucrative of all "services."  Health care is considered to 
be a 3.5 trillion dollar market worldwide, while education is targeted 
as a 2 trillion and water a 1 trillion dollar annual market. The chief 
executive officer of U.S. based Columbia/HCA, the world's largest 
for-profit hospital corporation, insists that health care is a business 
no different than the airline or ballbearing industry and vows to 
destroy every public hospital in North America. Investment houses like 
Merrill Lynch predict that public education will be globally privatized 
over the next decade, declaring that untold profits can be made through 
the process. Meanwhile, water giants like Vivendi and Suez Lyonnaise des 
Eaux of France are working hand-in-glove with the World Bank to compel 
many Third World governments to privatize their water services.

Through powerful lobby machines like the U.S. Coalition of Service 
Industries and the European Services Forum, these and other 
transnational corporations have effectively set the agenda for the GATS 
2000 negotiations.

If achieved, this corporate GATS 2000 agenda will amount to a frontal 
attack on the fundamental social rights enshrined in the United Nations 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its accompanying Covenants and 
Charters. Not only will foreign-based, for-profit corporations be able 
to access public dollars to takeover public hospitals and schools, but 
regulations on health and education standards will be undermined by 
global trade rules under the WTO. Chains of foreign-based, for-profit 
corporations would be able to invade the childcare, social security and 
prison systems in all WTO member countries. Our parks, wildlife and old 
growth forests could all become contested areas as global corporate 
'service' providers compete with one another to exploit their resources. 
Meanwhile, unlimited access to foreign-based corporations would have to 
be given regarding municipal contracts for construction, sewage, garbage 
disposal, sanitation, tourism, and water services.

For many Third World countries, this invasion of peoples' basic rights 
is not new. During the past two decades or more, the structural 
adjustment programs of the International Monetary Fund and the World 
Bank have been used to force many governments in the South to dismantle 
their public services and allow foreign-based healthcare, education and 
water corporations to provide services on a for-profit basis. Under the 
proposed GATS rules, developing countries will experience a further 
dismantling of local service providers, restrictions on the build up of 
domestic service providers, and the creation of new monopolies dominated 
by corporate service providers based in the North. By dramatically 
increasing market control by foreign service corporations and by 
threatening the future of public services, the GATS 2000 agenda would 
trigger a global assault on the commons and democracy both in the North 
and the South. Moreover, the binding enforcement mechanisms of the WTO 
will ensure that this agenda is not only implemented, but rendered 
irreversible. The time has come to 'Stop the GATS Attack!'

We, therefore, call upon our governments to immediately invoke a 
moratorium on the GATS 2000 negotiations and devote the remaining two 
years of the scheduled talks to carrying out the following tasks:

[a] conduct a full and complete assessment of the impacts of the current 
GATS regime and the implications of the proposed GATS 2000 rules on 
domestic social, environmental and economic laws, policies and programs 
with citizens' groups in all member countries

[b] reaffirm the role and responsibility of governments to provide 
public services ensuring the basic rights and needs of their citizens in 
the new global economy based on the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights and related U.N. Covenants and Charters;

[c] declaw the existing GATS regime by removing components like Article 
VI and the Working Party on Domestic Regulation that give foreign 
governments and transnational corporations the power to ratchet down 
public interest laws, policies, and programs such as quality standards 
for health care and safety standards for transportation;

[d] guarantee the right of governments to require ironclad safeguards 
for public services [e.g. healthcare, education, social security, 
culture, environment, transportation, housing, energy, and water] that 
may be threatened by global trade and investment rules;

[e] provide concrete incentives and resources, especially for 
governments in the South, to fulfill their universal obligations (see 
'b' above) by further developing and strengthening the provision of 
public services based on peoples' needs rather than on ability to pay

[f] develop mechanisms for effective participation by citizen 
organizations in both the formulation of their government positions and 
in the negotiation of any global trade and investment rules in the 
future regarding cross border services;

[g] secure the rights and responsibilities of governments to enact and 
carry out laws and regulations protecting the environment and natural 
resources, health and safety, poverty reduction, and social well-being. 
rules on domestic social, environmental and economic laws, policies and 
programs with citizens' groups in all member countries;

Finally, we call on our governments to end all IMF, World Bank and 
Multilateral Development Bank pressure on developing countries to 
privatize public services, especially in the area of education, health 
and water.




Organizations currently signed-on to the "Stop the GATS Attack" 
Statement
(as of March 2nd, 2001):

International
Fair Trade Federation (Canada & US)
People-Centered Development Forum
Public Service International (PSI)
Union Network International - Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation 
(UNI Apro)

Australia
ACT Greens - Australia
Australian Greens - Australia
Conversations for the 21st Century - Australia
Quest 2025, Australia
Sydney People Against A New Nuclear Reactor (SPANNR)
TROPO (Tweed Richmond Organic Producers Organisation)
WTO Watch ACT - Australia

Austria
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence

Bangladesh
Karmojibi Nari (KN)

Belgium
Life, the Ecocreactive Platform
OXFAM Belgium
URFIG

Brazil
Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT)

Canada
Canadian Action Party
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Council of Canadians
Defence of Canadian Liberty Committee
Kingston & District Labour Council - Canada
L.I.N.C. (Low Income Needs Coalition)
Ogoni Solidarity Network - Canada
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation
Polaris Institute

China
Asia Monitor Resource Center- Hong Kong

Costa Rica
COECOCeiba, Friends of the Earth

Fiji
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

France
Attac
Ecoropa
Federation syndicale unitaire (FSU)
Institut de recherches historiques, economiques, sociales et culturelles
(IRHESC)
Mouvement National de Lutte pour l'Environnement (MNLE)
SNESup (Syndicat national de l'enseignement supérieur)

Germany
World Economy, Ecology & Development

India
EQUATIONS- Equitable Tourism Options
International Group for Grassroots Initiatives
Jananeethi
Loyola Hall
Shramik Abhivrudhi Sangh
St Aloysius College
Tamilnadu Resource Team
Tamilnadu Women's Collective
Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr- India
Udayani Social Action Forum
Women's Welfare Center (WWC)
Youth For Unity And Voluntary Action (YUVA) - India

Indonesia
KALIPTRA Foundation
International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development (INFID)
Walhi Lampung
Yayasan Pelita Kasih Abadi (PEKA)

Italy
SinCOBAS

Japan
A SEED Japan
APEC Monitoring NGO Group
Friends of the Earth, Japan
Jambo International Center
Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)
Shimin Gaikou Center - Citizens' Diplomatic Center for the Rights of
Indigenous peoples (ECOSOC NGO)

Malaysia
Citizens' Health Initiative - Malaysia

Nepal
Integrated Organization System(IOS)
Nepal Kingdom Foundation
Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

Netherlands
Both ENDS - Netherlands
Corporate Europe Observatory
International League of Peoples' Struggle
Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)
Transnational Institute

New Zealand
FAIR NZ - New Zealand

Norway
GATT-WTO Campaign, Norway
Norwegian Association of Health and Social Care Personnel
Norwegian Civil Service Union
Norwegian Farmer and Smallholders Union
Norwegian Nurses Association
Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees
Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers
Norwegian Union of Teachers
Teachers' Union, Norway

Pakistan
ROOTS for Equity - Pakistan

Philippines
Initiatives For International Dialogue

Romania
For Mother Earth-Romania
Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

South Africa
eThekwini ECOPEACE - South Africa
Green Party of South Africa

South Korea
Green Korea United
Taegu Round

Spain
Human Rights Observatory (Observatorio de Derechos Humanos, DESC)

Switzerland
Berne Declaration
Forum for direct Democracy Europa-Magazin

Thailand
Focus on the Global South
Rural Reconstruction Alumni and Friends  Association (RRAFA)
Sustainable  Development  Foundation  (SDF)

Turkey
SOS ISTANBUL Cevre Gonulluleri Platformu (Environmental Volunteers' 
Platform)

United Kingdom
Anti-Globalisation Network
The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom
Centre for Alternative Technology
Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of
Warwick
Communities Against Toxics
Christian Council for Monetary Justice
Christian Ecology Link
Devizes & Marlborough Friends of the Earth
The Ecologist
Forum for Stable Currencies, House of Lords
Friends of the Earth, Swindon
George Washington University Action Coalition
Green Socialist Network
JPIC Desk
Mid & North Herts Friends of the Earth
Muir's Tours (Nepal Kingdom Foundation Trading Ltd)
North Sheffield Action Group
Stort Valley Friends of the Earth
V & V Network (Values and Vision)
Vision in Action magazine, Wales
World Development Movement

United States
Alliance for Democracy
Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace
Campus Greens
Carolina Animal Rights Effort
Cascadia Forest Alliance
Coastal Convergence Society
Concerned Citizens Coalition of Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer Counties
CorpWatch, USA
Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice
The Eco-Store
The Edmonds Institute
50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Forest Guardians
Global Exchange
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
Global Response
Humane Society of the United States
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Institute for Economic  Democracy
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Mendocino Coast Alliance for Democracy
Metro Justice of Rochester, Inc.
Obed Watershed Association
Olympia Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee
Pacific Environment and Resources Center
Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network (PCAN)
Physicians for a National Health Program
Public Citizen
ReclaimDemocracy.org
Shenandoah Ecosystems Defense Group
United Church of Christ,  Network for Environmental & Economic 
Responsibility
United for a Fair Economy
Virginia Forest Watch
Virginians for Wilderness
Who's Counting? Project

Uruguay
REDES- Friends of the Earth, Uruguay
REPEM : Education Network Among Women , America Latina y el Caribe

Zimbabwe
SEATINI - Zimbabwe

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