Brussels, 26/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 May, European and Filipino civil society associations led by the Belgian NGO 11.11.11 expressed their grave concern, against the backdrop of the first round of EU/Philippines free-trade talks held this week in Brussels, at the impact of the future agreement on public health and access to medicines, work and employment rights, the fisheries and mining sectors and human rights in the Philippines.
“In these negotiations, the business agenda takes priority over people's rights”, said Marc Maes, a member of the NGO11.11.11, at a press conference. He went on to criticise the “absolute secrecy” surrounding the talks - the Commission did not publicly announce the first round of discussions and the negotiation mandate remains confidential. “Secret negotiations are a threat to access to medicines, fisheries, employment, the right to regulate and human rights in the Philippines”, said Joseph Purugganan, coordinator of the programme for the Philippines of the NGO Focus on the Global South.
As regards public health, these NGOs fear that the agreement to be negotiated with the EU will contain TRIPS+ provisions in the chapter on the protection of intellectual property rights, which would go against Filipino law on access to generic medicines.
They also speak out against a “fundamental flaw” in the logic of a labour clause in free-trade agreements, which are supposed to protect the rights of workers, but lead to the destruction of jobs. “At best, labour clauses are used to deter the labour movement's resistance to a free-trade agreement”, commented Josua Mata of the NGO Sentro, in a press release.
These NGOs also criticised the fact that the changes made to the Filipino fisheries code on illegal and undeclared fishing, which the EU pushed for, do not deal with human rights in this sector.
As regards social rights, they question the direction of a strategic partnership “that is driven mainly by the corporate interest”. This future agreement “will not lead to equitable and sustainable development, but to greater wealth concentration and inequality, destruction of the environment and the erosion of people's rights”, Purugganan stressed.
Civil society is also concerned at the inclusion in the future EU/Philippines free-trade agreement of advantageous provisions on the protection of investors' rights.
Finally, the NGOs called on Commission to carry out an impact assessment of the future agreement on human rights in the Philippines, particularly due to the reputation of the new President of the country, Rodrigo Duterte, who was elected to power recently and attracted allegations of human rights violations when he was mayor of a major city of the country. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)