January 20, 2015

Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) Conference
“21st Century Trade and Investment Policies: Challenges and Implications
on Sustainable Land and Natural Resources Management in Asia and Europe”
Jakarta, 29-30 January 2015

Opening Remarks
By Tina Ebro

On behalf of the AEPF International Organizing Committee, a warm welcome! Our many thanks that you can come and share your valuable contributions today and tomorrow. Much thanks, too, to the Indonesian Global Justice (IGJ) and the committee of movements and NGOs that organized this event with the AEPF International Organizing Committee.

Recently, friends in France described the AEPF as a precious vehicle that links progressive Asian and European movements – movements that work persistently for a just, participatory and sustainable world. They said AEPF has opened dynamic networks on major issues, and keeps the links between these organizations alive. So there is a campaign network for just trade and against the European Union’s FTA with the ASEAN, a campaign network for transformative social protection in Asia, an Asia-Europe peace and security network, and projects on water justice, no-nukes, and alternative regionalism.

AEPF has organized every two years People’s Forums or civil society summits prior to the ASEM Summit. Thus in Milan, last October over 400 participants from 42 countries joined together – representatives of networks and NGOs, scholars and academicians, progressive parliamentarians and policy makers – under the theme “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe: Challenging Unjust and Unequal Development, Building States of Citizens for Citizens”. The gathering tackled major issues of Just Trade and Investment, Transformative Social Protection, Climate Justice, Peace and Security, Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Land and Natural Resource Management.

This conference is in fact a follow-through activity to the discussions in Milan particularly on the new generation trade and investment agreements and their impact on land and natural resources, and on the peasantry and rural communities. At the plenary and workshops, eminent thinkers and powerful grassroots representatives have highlighted the following major points that may serve as underpinnings to our discussions here:

That the peasantry – composed of small farmers, landless peasants, fisher folk, indigenous peoples – constitute nearly 50 percent of the world’s population of 7 billion. They feed the world, serve as stewards of natural resources, and safe-guard the future sustainability of agricultural systems. But they are under threat.

Under threat, too, are the commons of humankind – the land, forests, water, oceans and other natural resources that have been privatized, commodified and controlled by corporate power and the elite. These commons are the life, livelihoods and future of one-half of humanity .

Our resource persons have stressed as well that the World Banks’s and International Monetary Fund’s imposition of structural adjustment or neoliberal policies in the 80s and 90s, crippled the agricultural capacities of most developing countries and dispossessed millions of peasants of their land and livelihoods. Therefore we can link the dispossession of the peasantry with the rise of widespread structural unemployment and the dramatic rise of the precariat or labour in the informal sector.

Trapped in precarious temporary work in hostile conditions the precariat compose about 2/3 of the working people in Asia.

Scholars in Milan have shared that the violations of peasants’ rights will mount in this millennium by the adoption of more aggressive trade and investment policies like the TTIP and TPP which call for the highest form of liberalization, deregulation and privatization of public goods and services. Protective regulations will be further removed that safeguard labour, consumers and the environment. These Free Trade Agreements (FTA) will have devastating effects in the countryside – on people’s lives and livelihoods, on the sustainability of land and natural resources.

So we hope that our discussions here will deepen our understanding and analysis of these challenges and we can identify alternative and viable proposals that we can forward to the ASEM, EU, SAARC and ASEAN heads of states and officials. We are aware that these regional blocs have been designed as bigger markets and richer sites of exploitation. That is why civil society engagement with these bodies is important to expose and derail these processes such as these FTAs that only serve the agenda of corporate power.

It is also imperative in the region to wage an advocacy for a Peoples Social Agenda for a Life of Dignity. The ASEAN Economic Community will be launched at the end of this year, and the blueprint for regional integration is open regionalism, which will be cemented by FTAs.

Therefore let me close and stress that our solutions and alternatives need to go beyond the logic of endless growth and this profit-driven paradigm which is the basis of the capitalist system. In fact our struggles – across countries and across regions – that fight for agrarian justice, for just trade, for climate and environmental justice, offer the momentum to overhaul and transform this political and economic system.

This system has engendered an unprecedented crisis of inequality in our time – illustrated by 80 individuals controlling about 48 percent of the world’s resources. Oxfam said these billionaires or trillionaires can even fit in a bus! This system has engendered as well an urgent climate crisis, and a lingering economic crisis with no end in sight. So more than ever, we need a new system that would reverse the destruction of our earth and all life in it. We need a new system that would restore humanity’s relationship with nature and solidarity among peoples.

[Tina Ebro is active in Coordinating Team of the Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF), and in the Facilitating Team of the Network for Transformative Social Protection (NTSP).]

October 22, 2014

10th Asia- Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) at ASEM10, October 16th 2014

The AEPF has been advocating for a more transparent and accountable ASEM process since 1998 and the development and adoption of our first People’s Vision.

For the first time the Asia Europe People’s Forum was invited to formally present our Final Declaration to ASEM itself.

In a session on the 16th October 2014 the Asia Europe People’s Forum, in a joint session with the Asia Europe Business Forum and the Asia Europe Parliamentary Forum presented our Final Declaration to Herman van Rompuy the President of the European Council, who was also Chair of ASEM10 and Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission and the ASEM Heads of State and Government.

The Asia Europe Forum made two addresses to ASEM10, by Luciana Castellina, the Honorary President of the Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana(ARCI) and Rex Varona of The Migrant Workers’ Forum. The main points they based their presentations on are found below. They were accompanied by Tina Ebro of the AEPF IOC and the Institute of Popular Democracy, The Philippines and Andy Rutherford of the AEPF IOC and Fresh Eyes – People to People Travel, UK.

At the end of their addresses they formally presented the agreed Final Declaration of AEPF10 to Herman van Rompuy as Chair of ASEM10. They also formally presented a petition signed by many of the participants at AEPF10 on Sombath Somphone.

His petition reminded all ASEM member states of their human rights obligations, both domestically and internationally, demanded that the Lao Government complete their investigation into Sombath’s disappearance, make public the investigation report, and take forward the legal process against the perpetrators of the crime. It also urged ASEM member states to monitor the fulfilment of these demands and ensure that Sombath and his family receive justice and that he is returned safely to them.

The main points of the presentations of the addresses to ASEM10, by Luciana Castellina, the Honorary President of the Associazione Ricreativa Culturale Italiana (ARCI) and Rex Varona of The Migrant Workers’ Forum.

We are proud to share with you the Final Declaration of the Asia Europe People’s Forum 10.

Over 400 representatives from community organisations, social movements and Trade Unions from 42 countries have a strong consensus that the dominant development approach over the last decades – based around the deregulation of markets, the increasing power of multinational corporations, and of unaccountable multilateral institutions and trade liberalisation – has failed in its aims to meet the needs and rights of all citizens, creating the conditions for poverty, inequality, environmental devastation and growing social unrest.

In Asia the crises are exacerbating widespread joblessness, precarious work and the profound social inequality which was already widespread before the present crises. In Europe the crises are creating indebtedness, precarious work, joblessness and insecurity.

The powers of transnational corporations have become even more entrenched as ‘corporate capture’ of governance and policy processes spreads to more political arenas, giving business significant control over our lives and livelihoods.

Despite the policy failures of trade liberalisation, market and financial deregulation and the privatisation of essential services and common goods, our governments continue to ignore the growing tangible consensus for fundamental policy changes.

There is a deep felt need and demand for change and for new people-centred policies and practices.

We call on ASEM member governments to work together to adopt an alternative approach. At the AEPF10 we reaffirmed our commitment to call on ASEM to work with urgency to replace the current trade and investment regime with the Alternative Trade Mandate.

This is built on an open and democratic trade policy-making process, developing legally binding measures, which enable re-localising economies, protecting small-scale farmers, promoting food-sovereignty, public services and social protection and which put the fulfilling of international human rights law as well as social and environmental justice above any trade and investment rules.

Linked to this, across Asia and Europe, civil society groups and social movements are urgently demanding for transformative social protection systems with the goal of guaranteeing a life of dignity for all.

We sincerely call on ASEM governments to work together to implement social protection systems that are universal, comprehensive, rights-based, state-driven, legislated, and with mechanisms for public participation and control.

On December 15 2014, it will be two years since the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone in Laos.

Sombath was one of the main organisers of AEPF9 held in Vientiane just before ASEM9. Sombath, a Magsaysay Award winner, is one of the most respected people in ASEAN working for sustainable development.

We remind all ASEM member states of their human rights obligations, both domestically and internationally. We urge ASEM member states, especially Malaysia as the forthcoming Chair of ASEAN, to ensure that Sombath and his family receive justice and that he is returned safely to them.

The AEPF10 strongly condemns the military coup d’état and the establishment of a military government in Thailand. We are especially concerned about human rights violations, arrests and interrogations, as well as the increased censorship and intimidation of citizens.

ASEM is a process of civilian governments who must cherish their commitment to be a forum of civilian governments. We request you not to allow a military government to take part in your ASEM10.

Our Forum highlighted the strong thematic links that form our call for a more Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe. In addition to our calls for an Alternative Trade Mandate and for ASEM governments to work together to implement social protection systems that are universal, comprehensive, rights-based, state-driven and legislated, we would like to highlight three areas.

First Climate Justice

For the last two decades, global initiatives have been unsuccessful in controlling greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. There is a clear need for a fundamental change in relationship between people and nature. People are part of nature; we don’t own nature. It is essential that we move away from the extractive, fossil-fuel based, exploitative economic approach and towards people-centred, sustainable economic and social systems. We call on ASEM governments to work together to shift the systems of production and consumption from ones based on the continuous expansion and appropriation of nature to more sustainable and environment-friendly ones. Ones which fulfil the needs of people, not corporations.

Second the clear need for all ASEM governments to significantly decrease military spending and allocate the ‘released funds’ to social services as a way to build peace upon justice.

We call on ASEM to develop, as a matter of urgency, a special Common Plan with member states to cut military spending by at least 10% over the next 5 years.

Third an “Inclusive and Just” Asia and Europe means ALL people, regardless of nationality and status, being recognized and respected, being equally treated, enjoying the same basic human and labour rights.

Human security, social protection, decent work and life apply to all people, particularly the more vulnerable sections of society including migrants, women, people in the informal sector, people with disabilities and people in the rural sector.

Trade unions have the role and responsibility to organize and unionize all workers, including migrant and the informal sectors, and we urge ASEM member governments to enable this.

Criminalization and violence against migrants in Asia and Europe must be stopped, including the most recent “joint operation” of the EU called “Mos Maiorum”; this echoes previous crackdowns and unjust mass detentions of thousands of undocumented migrants.

We urge you to read our full Final Declaration and integrate our recommendations into your future vision and practice.

Thank you

October 22, 2014

We are proud to share with you the Final Declaration of the Asia Europe People’s Forum 10.

Over 400 representatives from community organisations, social movements and Trade Unions from 42 countries have a strong consensus that the dominant development approach over the last decades – based around the deregulation of markets, the increasing power of multinational corporations, and of unaccountable multilateral institutions and trade liberalisation – has failed in its aims to meet the needs and rights of all citizens, creating the conditions for poverty, inequality, environmental devastation and growing social unrest.

In Asia the crises are exacerbating widespread joblessness, precarious work and the profound social inequality which was already widespread before the present crises. In Europe the crises are creating indebtedness, precarious work, joblessness and insecurity.

The powers of transnational corporations have become even more entrenched as ‘corporate capture’ of governance and policy processes spreads to more political arenas, giving business significant control over our lives and livelihoods.

Despite the policy failures of trade liberalisation, market and financial deregulation and the privatisation of essential services and common goods, our governments continue to ignore the growing tangible consensus for fundamental policy changes.

There is a deep felt need and demand for change and for new people-centred policies and practices.

We call on ASEM member governments to work together to adopt an alternative approach. At the AEPF10 we reaffirmed our commitment to call on ASEM to work with urgency to replace the current trade and investment regime with the Alternative Trade Mandate.

This is built on an open and democratic trade policy-making process, developing legally binding measures, which enable re-localising economies, protecting small-scale farmers, promoting food-sovereignty, public services and social protection and which put the fulfilling of international human rights law as well as social and environmental justice above any trade and investment rules.

Linked to this, across Asia and Europe, civil society groups and social movements are urgently demanding for transformative social protection systems with the goal of guaranteeing a life of dignity for all.

We sincerely call on ASEM governments to work together to implement social protection systems that are universal, comprehensive, rights-based, state-driven, legislated, and with mechanisms for public participation and control.

On December 15 2014, it will be two years since the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone in Laos.

Sombath was one of the main organisers of AEPF9 held in Vientiane just before ASEM9. Sombath, a Magsaysay Award winner, is one of the most respected people in ASEAN working for sustainable development.

We remind all ASEM member states of their human rights obligations, both domestically and internationally. We urge ASEM member states, especially Malaysia as the forthcoming Chair of ASEAN, to ensure that Sombath and his family receive justice and that he is returned safely to them.

The AEPF10 strongly condemns the military coup d’état and the establishment of a military government in Thailand. We are especially concerned about human rights violations, arrests and interrogations, as well as the increased censorship and intimidation of citizens.

ASEM is a process of civilian governments who must cherish their commitment to be a forum of civilian governments. We request you not to allow a military government to take part in your ASEM10.

Our Forum highlighted the strong thematic links that form our call for a more Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe. In addition to our calls for an Alternative Trade Mandate and for ASEM governments to work together to implement social protection systems that are universal, comprehensive, rights-based, state-driven and legislated, we would like to highlight three areas.

First Climate Justice

For the last two decades, global initiatives have been unsuccessful in controlling greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. There is a clear need for a fundamental change in relationship between people and nature. People are part of nature; we don’t own nature. It is essential that we move away from the extractive, fossil-fuel based, exploitative economic approach and towards people-centred, sustainable economic and social systems. We call on ASEM governments to work together to shift the systems of production and consumption from ones based on the continuous expansion and appropriation of nature to more sustainable and environment-friendly ones. Ones which fulfil the needs of people, not corporations.

Second the clear need for all ASEM governments to significantly decrease military spending and allocate the ‘released funds’ to social services as a way to build peace upon justice.

We call on ASEM to develop, as a matter of urgency, a special Common Plan with member states to cut military spending by at least 10% over the next 5 years.

Third an “Inclusive and Just” Asia and Europe means ALL people, regardless of nationality and status, being recognized and respected, being equally treated, enjoying the same basic human and labour rights.

Human security, social protection, decent work and life apply to all people, particularly the more vulnerable sections of society including migrants, women, people in the informal sector, people with disabilities and people in the rural sector.

Trade unions have the role and responsibility to organize and unionize all workers, including migrant and the informal sectors, and we urge ASEM member governments to enable this.

Criminalization and violence against migrants in Asia and Europe must be stopped, including the most recent “joint operation” of the EU called “Mos Maiorum”; this echoes previous crackdowns and unjust mass detentions of thousands of undocumented migrants.

We urge you to read our full Final Declaration and integrate our recommendations into your future vision and practice.

Thank you

October 17, 2014

In the aftermath of the coup d’etat in Thailand on May 22, 2014, Focus on the Global South states our belief in the following principles:

1. Civilian rule must have supremacy over the military at all times, even in times of crisis. Too many times in our region, military forces have taken an overshadowing role in domestic politics, with negative consequences for the people. The role of a military must be limited to defense from external use of force against the nation or its peoples. The supremacy of civilian rule must not be questioned or threatened.
2. Human rights should be upheld under all circumstances. Human rights are by their nature universal and inalienable, and apply to all members of a society regardless of social class, ethnicity, belief or other factors. No circumstances permit detention without due process. The freedoms of movement, assembly, association and speech, including allowing access to accurate and timely information through a free and fair media, must never be violated.
3. Real democracy allows equal and broad participation among the people in addressing common social-political and economic problems, favoring the greater good and not just the interests of the elite or select social sectors.
4. Corruption is a serious problem that plagues modern capitalist societies. While transparency and administrative procedures to enforce accountability are needed, such measures alone will not solve the problems of an economic system that by its very nature encourages corruption and exploitation. Corruption should not be used as an excuse to cancel out democratic choice.
5. Lasting social peace and stability can only be achieved if marginalized sectors of society have a defining role in determining the direction of a country. Independent social movements play a vital role in developing and promoting solutions to problems, not replacing the electoral process but providing alternatives reaching beyond the limits of government bureaucracy and political parties. In times of crisis, strong, plural, politically independent and responsible social movements are the key to finding solutions that truly address the root causes of the crisis.

Link : http://focusweb.org/content/statement-principles-thailand-s-crisis

September 25, 2014

A call to social movements, frontline communities and campaigning networks, and progressive NGOs, academics and parliamentarians across Asia and Europe:

Join the 10th Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe – Building States of Citizens for Citizens” Milan, Italy, 10-12 October 2014

The Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF) will hold its 10th biennial People’s Forum on 10-12 October 2014 under the title “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe – Building States of Citizens for Citizens”.

AEPF10 will tackle major themes or People’s Visions, which represent AEPF’s hopes for citizens of Europe and Asia. These are:

• Socially Just Trade and Investment
• Universal and Transformative Social Protection – Guaranteed Decent Work and Sustainable Livelihoods, Access to Essential Services and Social Security for All;
• Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Land and Natural Resource Management;
• Climate Justice, Sustainable Energy Production and Zero Waste; and
• Peace and Security

Progress towards the realisation of these People’s Visions, or Alternatives, is at the heart of a way out of the multiple crises confronting people, states and institutions. The ecological, debt, financial, energy and food crises, which have been caused and compounded by the policies and practices of many governments in both rich and poor countries and their approaches to regulation of business, have caused increasing social polarization between peoples and states. In Asia the crises are exacerbating poverty and inequality, already widespread before the present crises. In Europe the crises are creating indebtedness, joblessness and insecurity.

We are increasingly experiencing ‘corporate capture’–multinational and national corporations structuring and determining our lives and livelihoods. The responses of citizens are often at local and national levels and to complement these, the AEPF is looking to encourage and strengthen cooperation and solidarity of people’s networks regionally, inter-regionally and globally.

This is a call to social movements, frontline communities and campaigning networks, and progressive NGOs, academics and parliamentarians across Asia and Europe to come and join us, to be part of the AEPF10 Forum. You can be part of an event that is open, dynamic and inclusive and focuses on meaningful and practical discussions for change.

AEPF10 will be an exciting series of interlinked dialogues, workshops, actions, policy debates and open spaces.

The forum will be held over 10th, 11th and 12th October 2014.

AEPF 10 will be in La Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4, Milan

The working languages of AEPF10 are English and Italian.

This event is supported by the European Union

10th Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum

Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe

Working Programme

Friday 10th October morning 9.30 – 13.00

Co – Moderators for official Opening of the AEPF: Dorothy Guerrero and Andy Rutherford

We open with a speech from Shui-Meng Ng wife of Sombath Somphone from Laos. Sombath was a co-organiser of AEPF9 in 2012 and was the victim of enforced Disappearance on 15th December 2012.

This will be followed by presentations from representatives from Italy, including Lucca de Fraia from the AEPF10 Milan Organising Group.

Linking Lampedusa to Milan – Migration Journeys

Co – Moderators for AEPF Session 1: Brid Brennan and Gianni Tognoni

AEPF Forum of Ideas – Our Current context and Challenges – Alternatives, ResponsesThere is a strong consensus across Asia and Europe that the dominant approach over the last decades – based around deregulation of markets, increasing power of multinational corporations, unaccountable multilateral institutions and trade liberalisation – is failing in its aims to meet the needs and rights of the poor.

We have two inspiring sessions which will set the scene and inspire participants of the AEPF10 on the current Context and Challenges (session 1) to progressing “Towards a Just and Inclusive Asia and Europe” and Responses and Alternatives (session 2).

Speakers include:

Panel 1 on Context and Challenges

• Anu Chenoy, Jawaharlal Nehru University (India)
• Charles Santiago, Monitoring Sustainability of globalisation and Member of Parliament (Malaysia)
• Meri Koivusalo, STAKES National Research and Development Centre on Welfare and Health (Finland)
• Andy Storey, Action for Ireland (Ireland)

Panel 2 on Responses and Alternatives

• Walden Bello, Member of Congress (Philippines)
• Pablo Solon, Focus on the Global South (Thailand)
• Yannis Almpanis, Syriza (Greece)
• Lola Sanchez, Podemos Member of European Parliament (Spain)
• Friday 10th October afternoon 14.30 -18.00

We have two parallel thematic plenaries

Thematic plenary 1: Socially Just Trade and Investment

Trade, Investment and Corporate Power – the plenary panel includes speakers from Italy, other European Countries and Asia who will dissect the elements of the economic agenda that is exemplified by TTIP, CETA and TISA in the case of Europe but also by TPP, EU FTAs, RCEP in the case of Asia, as well as the agenda for free trade in environmental goods and services and identify key points for campaigns and actions.

Co-organizers: Italian NO TTIP campaign, EU-ASEAN FTA Network, Focus on the Global South, Ecologistas en Acción (Spain), Transnational Institute, Stiftung Asienhaus, Rosa Luxembourg Foundation, Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power, Transnational Migrant Platform.

Speakers include: Walden Bello (Philippines), Charles Santiago (MP Malaysia), Kenneth Haar (Corporate Europe Observatory, Belgium), Eleonora Forenza (MEP – GUE, Italy) , Antonio Tricarico (Re-Common, Italy), Joseph Purugganan (EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign and Focus on the Global South, Philippines), Tom Kucharz (Ecologistas en Acción, Spain), Brid Brennan (Transnational Institute)

Thematic plenary 2: Universal and Transformative Social Protection – Guaranteed Decent Work and Sustainable Livelihoods, Access to Essential Services and Social Security for All

Since the unfolding of the crisis in 2008, Asian and European social movements ​​have actively promoted social protection systems that cover the demands for decent work and livelihood, quality essential services, and social security. They seek nation- and region-wide and globally-funded social protection systems that are universal, rights-based, comprehensive, legislated, and state-underwritten with mechanisms for public control. They see these as fundamental contributions towards fulfilling the right to a life of dignity, empowering people and transforming societies.

At the plenary meeting, scholar activists and experts will present the contextual challenges (e.g., corporate hijacking) and workable alternatives. Experts from the ILO will also detail their recommendation for “social protection floors” and other resource persons will present their alternative proposals for a comprehensive, universal, and transformative social protection in the context of reclaiming the social commons.

Co-organizers: ARCI, Network for Transformative Protection in Asia (NTSP), Global Social Justice, ITUC, GUE-NGL

Speakers: Luciana Castellina (ARCI), Helmut Scholz (Die Linke), Francine Mestrum, Luise Steinwachs (Bread for the World), Tina Ebro (Network for Transformative Social Protection, Working Group for an ASEAN Social Agenda/Charter), Yannis Almpanis (Syriza), Eleonora Forenza (MEP, GUE-NGL), Yorgos Altintzis (Asia-Europe Labor Forum/ITUC), Priti Darooka (PWESCR), Sandeep Chachra (South-South People’s Solidarity Network), Kamal Chenoy, Jawaharlal Nehru University (India)

Summary: Maris dela Cruz (NTSP)

Moderators: Birgit Daiber and Francine Mestrum

Workshops and Open Spaces

At the heart of the Asia Europe People’s Forum is the space and possibility for workshops and open spaces which are dynamic and self-organised.

These will take place over Friday 10th October afternoon, Saturday 11th October morning and Saturday 11th October afternoon in a range of venues in La Fabbrica del Vapore.

Workshops – Friday 10th October afternoon – 14h 30 – 18h

Nuclear Weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)

This workshop will address WMDs and nuclear weapons in their various dimensions. It will show who uses and makes these weapons and why, when they have been used, by whom and on whom, what their impact is on people and the environment. It will address the issues of ethics and the illegality of WMDs and what steps should be taken for a nuclear weapon free world.

Presentation of VTR Messages from Hibakushas of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Appeal from Japan Confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Sufferers Organizations/ Japan

With Lee Daehoon Francis (Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy/Korea), Dong Huy Cuong (Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation/Vietnam), Giuseppe Schiavello (Campaign to Ban Landmines/Italy), Kamal Chenoy/Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace/India), Farooq Tariq (Awami Workers Party/Pakistan)

Moderators: Corazon Fabros (Stop the War Coalition Philippines) and Rete Italiana per il Disarmo

Expanding the Peace Coalition: Workshop on Peaceful Conflict Resolution, Gender Relations, Intercommunity and Identity Relations, Regional Conflicts

This session will give a broad overview of the regional, intra-state and local, violent conflicts and the impact these have on women, minorities and on the institutions of states. It will address the manner in which nationalisms are warped to oppress minorities, women, dissent and violate human rights. It will also initiate a discussion on alternatives.

With: Pham Van Chuong (Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation/Vietnam), Alicia Cabezudo (International Peace Bureau/Spain), Wong Chin Huat (Penang Institute/Malaysia), Timo Juhani Virtala (Peace Union of Finland/Finland), Au Loong Yu (China Labor Net/China), Anuradha Chenoy (Jawaharlal Nehru University/India)

Moderators: Gus Miclat (Initiatives for International Dialogue/Philippines) and Rete Italiana per il Disarmo

No to nukes, Yes to sustainable Energy

Sharing of experiences, struggles and visions of grassroots movements for a safe and sustainable energy future. The claim that nuclear energy is indispensable for energy security is widely questioned. Nuclear energy expansion will detract from our real requirements of ecologically sustainable, decentralised and equitable models of energy supply and use. Activists involved in the anti-nuclear movement will present.

With: Achin Vanaik and Praful Bidwai (Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament & Peace – CNDP, India), Ms. Vaishali Patil (India, Konkan Vinashkari Prakalap Virodhi Samiti)

Climate Justice and Reparations for Climate Debt

The workshop will be an opportunity to discuss in more detail the latest state of play of the international climate talks based on the latest findings of the IPCCC and the developments in the global movements. It will also be a venue to know more about the various climate impacts experienced in Asia and Europe including impacts on women, food sovereignty, climate migrants and refugees, and impacts on climate related disasters (i.e. Typhoon Haiyan). Participants will also be allowed to exchange ideas on strategies for building movements and fighting for climate justice.

Organizers: Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Indian Social Action Forum and Philippine Movement for Climate Justice. Contact persons: Claire Miranda (JSAPMDD), Willy D’Costa (INSAF)

With: Lidy Nacpil (Philippines, Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development), Badrul Alam (Bangladesh Krishok Federation), Praful Bidwai (India, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace -CNDP), Mohammad Reza (Indonesia, KRuHA), Pierre Rousset (Europe solidaire sans frontières –ESSF, France)

Ensuring inclusive and quality education and lifelong learning for all in the post 2015 education agenda

Youth and adult education are at the centre of heated debates in Asia and Europe as well as in the deliberations leading to the World Education Forum and UN Summit where governments and other stakeholders will agree on global commitments to education post 2015. The workshop will advocate inclusive and holistic understanding of youth and adult education and recommend clear targets, policies, programmes and public financing that will ensure the right to quality education and lifelong learning for all.

Organizers : DVV International, Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education (ASPBAE), European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), ARCI

With: Uwe Gartenschlaeger (DVV International), Rene Raya (ASPBAE), Tania Berman (EAEA), Valentina La Terza (ARCI). Moderator : Janos Toth

Caucus on a People’s Social Agenda in the ASEAN (17.30h –

Put forward ideas and perspectives on a social dimension in the ASEAN regional integration. Propose an alternative ​social agenda or ​charter that represents the interests of workers, farmers, and other groups, and guarantee a life of dignity and security for all in ASEAN, including migrants, refugees, and undocumented persons.

With: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, NTSP, Monitoring Sustainability of Globalisation (Malaysia), Hoang Phuong Thao (Director, Action Aid-Vietnam), Nyonyo Thin (head of opposition bloc in Myanmar Parliament), Charles Santiago (Member of Parliament, Malaysia), S.Tjandra (Trade Union Rights Center, Indonesia), Rex Varona (Migrants Forum Asia)

Saturday 11th October morning 9.30 – 13.00

We have two parallel thematic plenaries

Thematic Plenary 3: Food sovereignty and Sustainable Land and Natural Resource Management.

In response to the financial, economic, and ecological crises, a new wave of land, water and resource grabbing is occurring. Powerful international and domestic forces are pushing forward a new round of enclosures globally for both food and non-food purposes. There is a growing body of evidence that large-scale investments in agriculture and extractive industries are resulting in a cascade of negative impacts on rural livelihoods and ecologies, human rights, and local food security and food sovereignty.

Food sovereignty embraces dimensions such as right to food, valuing farmers, fishers, local production and environmental sustainability; each comes with its own gender dimension. It is in essence the right of people to control their own food systems, their own markets, production modes, food cultures and environment. As a movement it is capable of moving away from chemical intensive, fossil-fuel dependent industrial agricultural model that has contributed to global environmental degradation and the climate crises.

Co-organizers: Action Aid Italy, Transnational Institute, Focus on the Global South, Indonesia Global Justice, European Via Campesina,

Programme: State of land and food, struggles and resistances
in Europe
Franziskus Forster from Attac Austria
in Italy
Leonardo Gallico: land access and land grabbing in the Italian context; Pietro Porceddu: the case of land struggles in Sardinia; Antonio Onorati : Seeds and knowledge
in Asia
activist on land rights TBC, Bratindi Jena, Leader, Natural Resources Hub at ActionAid India, Ka Elvie, PARAGOS, Philippines, Sheelu Francis, Leader of Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective
Ocean grabbing and fisheries
Mads Barbesgaard from Africa Kontakt

Thematic Plenary 4: Climate Justice, Sustainable Energy Production and Zero Waste.

The climate change talks have shown that the rich industrialised countries of the North are simply not prepared to shoulder their share of responsibility for emissions mitigation, let alone enabling the global South with finance and technology to avert emissions or to adapt to climate change.

We will gain an overview, exchange analyses and deepen collective understanding of the situation, critical trends and challenges in climate change, sustainable energy and waste management. We will take stock of ongoing local, national and global campaigns on climate justice, on energy (against dirty and harmful energy; for peoples access to energy; for democratic governance of energy systems), and on waste management (people-centric solutions versus corporate).

Co-organizers: Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF), Jubilee South -APMDD, Europe Solidaire sans Frontières, Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, Focus on the Global South, Zero Waste Europe, Ecologistas en Acción

Speakers include: Pierre Rousset (France), Praful Bidwai (India), Pablo Solon, Lidy Nacpil (Philippines), Pal Martensson (Sweden), Joan Carling, Asian Indigenous People’s Pact (The Philippines), Tom Kucharz (Spain), Speaker from Italy tbc

Workshops – Saturday 11th October morning – 9h30 – 13h

Trade, Investment and Corporate Nexus: State of Play of FTA Negotiations and Impacts of FTAS-BITS

Three topics will be discussed:

Critical analyses of FTAs from a union perspective, labour rights, the problem of the “locational advantage promise” in case the EU signs FTAs with other states in the region and the lack of participation of Unions in the negotiations

• What are the motivations behind the Vietnamese attempts to negotiate with the EU on a FTA? (not to forget the other negotiations with other states)
• Critical analysis of the effects of the agreements (including state-owned enterprises, coordination of the various agreements, etc.)
• Organizers : Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in cooperation with EU-ASEAN FTA Network, Transnational Institute, Ecologistas en Acción, Focus on the Global South, NO TTIP Italia Campaign, Stiftung Asienhaus

With: Walden Bello (Philippines), Joseph Purugganan (Philippines), Van Ly Tran (Vietnam),

Thanh Nam Bui (Vietnam), Nguyen Anh (Vietnam), Yuyun Harmono (Indonesia), Muhammad Ridha (Indonesia), Nurul Izzah (Malaysia), Cherry Zahau (Myanmar), Dharmendra Kumar (India), Kingkorn Narintarakulk (Thailand), Hae-Young Lee (South Korea), Wolfram Schaffer (Germany), Klaus Fritsche (Germany)

Tourism needs another governance

Irresponsible and unsustainable tourism development is taking place across much of Asia and Europe and it is violating the rights of the people, damaging the environment and so seriously undermining any progress towards more just and inclusive social and economic development. What alternatives are there and how can initiatives like community-based tourism, small-scale local initiatives and pro-poor initiatives influence specific tourism initiatives. How can citizens’ action groups challenge the existing power structures in tourism?

With: Andy Rutherford (Fresh Eyes – People to People Travel) Monika Duelge (Eine Welte), Sumesh Mangalassery (Kabani the other direction, India), Antje Monshausen, Brot für die Welt (Tourism Watch Germany)

Violent Conflicts, spreading strife: Workshop on Dangers of Armed Conflicts, Internal Conflict, Unresolved Conflicts, and Points of Conflagration

This workshop will discuss the dangers of armed conflicts in all their dimensions. It will talk about the root causes of conflicts, the impact of the use of force by the state and armed militias, how the use of arms, even for just causes, leads to degeneration and violence against women. It will talk of internal conflicts, their suppression and resurgence. It will also discuss points of conflagration and the need for preventive steps for stopping armed conflicts.

With Chito Sta. Romana (Philippine Association for Chinese Studies/Philippines), Naw Hla Hla Soe Susanna (Women Initiative Network for Peace/Myanmar Burma), Lee Daehoon Francis (Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy/Korea), Ahmad Shahad Ud Din (Anjaman Taraqi Pesand Musanfeen/Pakistan), Augusto Miclat (Initiatives for International Dialogue/Philippines)

Moderators: Anuradha Chenoy and Rete Italiana per il Disarmo

Social Protection: Decent Work and Sustainable Livelihoods

The best form of social protection is secure and dignified work and sustainable livelihoods. Demands are: living wages, work guarantees, end to contractualisation, shortening of the workday, ILO core labour standards, and social dialogue. With half of the world’s population still engaged in agriculture, land should be accessible to all tillers.

With: ITUC, Network for Transformative Social Protection, ARCI, Rex Varona (migrants), Wilson Fortaleza (informal workers), Ronnie Febrianto (formal workers), Stefano Maruca (Fiom – CGIL), Sally Rousset (Babaylan- Philippine migrant women in France)

Speakers include: Farooq Tariq and Sandeep Chachra

Women and Social Security and Protection

The goal of the workshop on Women and Social Security and Protection is to assess the impact of and gaps in existing social security schemes from a women’s human rights perspective. The workshop will also bring experts from both Europe and Asia to share some of the discourses and challenges around the issues of social security, social protection, entitlements etc.

With: Priti Darooka (PWESCR), Shahnaz Iqbal (LEF, Pakistan), Usa Khiewrord (Thailand), Luise Steinwachs (Bread for the World), Christa Wichterich (Germany), Silvana Cappuccio (CGIL – Italy), Lily Thapa (Nepal), Zakir Hossain (Bangladesh), Sejal Dand (India)

Saturday 11th October afternoon 14.30 -18.00

We have one thematic plenary

Thematic Plenary 5: Peace and Security in Asia and in Europe

Multiple conflicts continue to threaten the lives of people of Asia and Europe. These violent conflicts range from unresolved territorial and border issues of land and sea; ethnic/identity conflicts, violent attempts to capture power, sectarian and fundamentalist movements, and terrorism. These conflicts are increased by geo strategic rivalries between hegemonic and great powers. These conflicts are powered by the ideology as well as physical expansion of militarism. This militarization reinforces masculinity, and gender stereotypes that marginalizes and excludes women and other already marginalized minorities. In this situation the AEPF advocates alternate ways of looking at peace within a rights framework. AEPF plenary session will question the dominant paradigm that talks of ‘managing peace’ with the use of war. It will look for strategies of building coalitions for real peace and human security, and de-militarization.

Co-organizers: Indian AEPF Committee, the Vietnamese Peace and Development Foundation, Stop The War Coalition Philippines, Peace Boat (Japan), the International Peace Bureau (IPB), the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT), the Finnish AEPF Committee, Rete Italiana per il Disarmo.

Speakers include: Achin Vanaik (Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace/India), Chito Sta. Romana (Philippine Association for Chinese Studies/Philippines), Ingeborg Breines (International Peace Bureau/ Norway), Lisa Clark (International Peace Bureau/Italy), Kalle Sysikaski (AEPF Peace Committee/Finland), Pham Van Chuong (Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation/Vietnam), Peace Boat/Japan (tbc), Martin Broek (European Network Against Arms Trade/The Netherlands, tbc).

Documentation and Summing up: Dong Huy Cuong (Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation/Vietnam)

Moderators: Nguyen Van (IOC/Vietnam) and Francesco Vignarca (Rete Italiana per il Disarmo)

Workshops – Saturday 11th October afternoon – 14h30 – 18h

Ocean Grabbing and fisheries

Ocean Grabbing involves the capturing of control by powerful economic actors of crucial decision-making around fisheries, including the power to decide how and for what purposes marine resources are used, conserved and managed now and in the future. Although these dynamics are very similar to other ‘resource-grabs’ (e.g. land) the issue of ocean grabbing has as of yet not been placed firmly on the agenda of progressive social movements, civil society organizations and academics.

Organizers: Crocevia Italy, Transnational Institute, Indonesia for Global Justice, Afrika Kontakt, World Forum of Fisher Peoples

With: Mads Barbesgaard (Afrika Kontakt), Riza Damanik (IGJ and Indonesian fisheries organization), Alain Le Sann (International Collective in Support of Fishworkers)

Tax justice, social protection and corporate domination

This activity is envisioned as a capacity-building workshop on advocating and campaigning around tax justice issues. As a learning activity, it will feature organizations and activists who have campaigned on different concerns using a tax justice framework. It will also provide opportunities for advocates and campaigners to propose cross-country initiatives particularly where issues of tax evasion and avoidance, corrupt practices and tax havens are concerned.

Organizer: Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development c/o Claire Miranda

With Charles Santiago (Malaysia), Claire Miranda (Philippines, JSAPMDD), Lidy Nacpil (Philippines), ATTAC Europe (TBC)

Democracy and Human Rights in Thailand

The military coup d’état in May of this year is a major setback for democracy and human rights in Thailand. This forum aims to discuss the current situation and the perspectives for social movements in Thailand. In particular, it hopes to develop ideas on what social movements in Europe and elsewhere in Asia can do to support democracy and human rights in Thailand.

Organizers: Stiftung Asienhaus (Germany), International Solidarity Group for Democracy and Human Rights in Thailand, LEMS – Laboratorio di Etnografia dei Movimenti Sociali (Italy)

With: Junya Lek Yimprasert (former director Thai Labour Campaign), Saksith Saiyasombut (Political blogger and journalist), Claudio Sopranzetti (Oxford University), Pitch Pongsawat (Thailand: Political Analyst and Columnist), Jaran Ditaphichai (former Commissioner on Human Rights, Thailand). Moderator: Oliver Pye (Asienhaus)

Zero waste: Towards sustainable resource and energy consumption and production

Waste should be reckoned as a resource. This workshop, therefore, aims to present some alternative paths towards a more responsible and sustainable way of handling waste that would not only overcome some of the most pressing ecological and energy concerns, but could also support combating poverty.

The discussion will focus on Zero Waste as a philosophy, strategy, and as set of practical tools or practices seeking to eliminate waste. This would at the same time help achieving sustainable energy use, resource utilization and secure and improved livelihood conditions for the people.

Organizers: Zero Waste Europe, Rifiuti Zero Italia, SEED

With: Pal Martensson (Zero Waste Europe, Sweden), Danilo Boni (Rifiuti Zero/Zero Waste Italy, Milan), Dann Diez (Sustainable Energy and Enterprise Development for Communities, Philippines), GAIA (tbc), Maris dela Cruz (Philippines)

Challenging the current Trade, Investment & Corporate Power nexus. What do we have to do to get rid of the TTIP and TPP?

The Asia Europe Peoples’ Forum (AEPF) would like to exchange campaign experiences among activists from Asia and Europe on strategies of resistance drawing lessons also from other regions: to share initiatives on building alternatives and propose joint recommendations for synergies and joint actions in the coming period which will contribute to strengthening more effective convergence of movements and networks.

Organizers: Transnational Institute, NO TTIP Italia Campaign, EU- ASEAN FTA Network, Focus on the Global South, Ecologistas en Acción, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Stiftung Asienhaus, Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power

With: Tom Kucharz (Ecologistas en Acción-Spain), Marco Bersani (ATTAC Italia), Roeline Knottnerus (TNI – SOMO Netherlands), Edwin Bustillos (Alliance of Progressive Labor/SENTRO- Philippines), Monica di Sisto (FairWatch, Italy), Daniel Bertosa (tbc/PSI), Riza Damanik (Indonesia for Global Justice – Indonesia).

Women’s perspectives on Food Sovereignty: An Asia-Europe Social Movement Dialogue

Women farmers, especially from the South, produce a significant portion of the world’s food. Yet their role as producers is not recognised and they continue to be discriminated in terms of access to land, agricultural inputs, financial services and technology. Food sovereignty is a concept which embraces dimensions such as the right to food, valuing farmers and farm workers, local production and environmental sustainability; each comes with its own gender dimension. Therefore the role and participation of women is central to food sovereignty.

With: Action Aid Milano, Suman Sahai, Geneviève Savigny, European Smallholders’ Movement, European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) Valentina Hemmeler Maïga, Uniterre Switzerland. Moderator: Anuradha Chenoy

Social Protection: Essential Services and Social Security for All

Panel 1: Social Security

Demands are: living pensions, sickness insurance, unemployment, and natural disasters allowances, basic amounts for children and for disabled people, no to public-private partnerships, no to financialisation of social security, development of non-contributory systems based on taxes as well as public-public partnerships that include uncovered majority.

With: ARCI, NTSP, Global Social Justice, Roni Febrianto (Indonesian Trade Union Confederation – KSPI), Nyo Nyo Thin (MP, Myanmar), Usa Khiewrord (HelpAge International), Saowalak Thongkuay (Disabled People’s International-Asia-Pacific), Gunnel Axelsson (Church of Sweden) on social pension system, Koen Detavernier (11.11.11) on Belgian National Coalition’s platform on social security, Barbara Caracciolo (SOLIDAR)

Moderator: Richard Werly. Summing up: Edda Pando (ARCI)

Panel 2: Essential Services/Common Goods

Essential services such as health care, education, housing, water, power, and public transport are fundamental components of social protection that belong to the core obligations of the state, and must be available, accessible, and affordable for all. Demands are: no privatisation and marketisation of these essential services, consider these services as “common goods” owned by citizens that must be managed in a democratic and participative way, underwritten by a people-centred state.

With: ARCI, NTSP, Global Social Justice, Christine Roperez (IPD), Surya Tjandra (Trade Union Rights Center), Ricardo Petrella, Alda Sousa (former MEP-Portugal/GUE-NGL), Rafaella Bollini (ARCI)

Social Protection: In Defence of the Commons Debate (17h30 – )

Crucial to a life of well-being and dignity, this right to social protection is part of the social commons, where the commons are essential things that support life. The commons paradigm is central to the sought-for alternative system that provides for the needs of individual and society, and that considers the regenerative capacities of the environment. As a counterweight to the neoliberal storyline, the framework asserts that the commons and public goods should not be marketed as commodities.

​

With: Common Good Network, South-South Solidarity People’s Movement, Network for Transformative Social Protection, Birgit Daiber (Italy/Belgium), Sandeep Chachra (India), Ana Maria Nemenzo (Philippines), Tommaso Fattori (Italy), Farooq Tariq (Pakistan), Francine Mestrum (Belgium)

Speakers include: Anne-Marie Mineur ( MEP, GUE-NGL), Emmanuele Patti (ARCI)

​Sunday 12th October morning 10.00 – 13.00
Our closing and looking forward
Co – Moderators : Andy Rutherford and Tina Ebro
Highlights of 5 thematic Plenaries

• Socially Just Trade and Investment
• Universal and Transformative Social Protection – Guaranteed Decent Work and Sustainable Livelihoods, Access to Essential Services and Social Security for All;
• Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Land and Natural Resource Management;
• Climate Justice, Sustainable Energy Production and Zero Waste; and
• Peace and Security

Presentation, discussion then adoption of AEPF10 Final Declaration
Closing speaker
Responses from

Presentation, discussion then adoption of AEPF10 Final Declaration
Closing speaker
Responses from

• Luciana Castelini (Italy)
• Mariana Mortagua (Portugal)
• Farooq Tariq (Pakistan)

​​Thanks and looking forward

• ​​​AEPF IOC Coordinators
• Italian NOC Representative

Support for the Asia Europe People’s Forum 10

We are able to organise the AEPF10 thanks to the significant support from a range of organisations including:-

All the members of the AEPF International Organising Committee, including the two focal points of Transnational Institute (TNI), The Netherlands and the Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD) The Philippines.

The Milan Organising Group:- ARCI Milano, Action Aid, Rete Italiana per il Disarmo, Altreconomia, Instituto Cooperazione Economica Internationale.

We have support for participation of 85 speakers and resource people and key logistical aspects from the ASEM Dialogue Facility of the European Union through DEVCO.

The Trade and investment cluster is partly funded through EuropeAid funding to the project ‘Making EU investment work for sustainable development”

The venue- La Fabbrica del Vapore – is a contribution from the Milan City Council

We have support from a range of other organisations in many forms including the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation, 11-11-11 Belgium and Action Aid.

We warmly thank all the women, men and organisations who are making AEPF10 possible.

In July 2013, the European Commission started negotiations with the United States on the subject of Investment Protection and ISDS in the framework of wider talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In the face of growing interest and public concern, the Commission decided to launch a public consultation on the matter in March 2014.

Together with Peter Muchlinski (SOAS School of Law), Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po Law School), and Gus Van Harten (Osgoode Hall Law School), Harm Schepel (Kent Law School) has authored a submission expressing deep concern about the planned Treaty in general and voicing strong criticism of the proposed provisions in particular.

The authors are joined by nine members of academic staff from Kent Law School and over a hundred other prominent scholars from all over Europe and across the globe with expertise in trade and investment law, public international law and human rights, European Union law, global political economy, comparative law, public law and private law (a list of their names is available to view at the bottom of this page). Investment arbitration law, after all, is far too important to leave to just investment lawyers.

The submission has been written in response to an online questionnaire compiled by the European Commission. The text is reproduced below question per question. It is also available in PDF and Word.

For further information contact Harm Schepel

General assessment

What is your overall assessment of the proposed approach on substantive standards of protection and ISDS as a basis for investment negotiations between the EU and US? Do you see other ways for the EU to improve the investment system? Are there any other issues related to the topics covered by the questionnaire that you would like to address?

The Commission’s consultation document is an extraordinary text. On the one hand, the document contains fierce (and, in our opinion, fully justified) criticism of the international investment treaty arbitration regime as it has developed over the last two decades or so in a rapidly expanding number of awards under some 2800 Bilateral Investment Treaties, NAFTA, and the Energy Charter. Both explicitly and implicitly, the document disapproves of widespread expansive interpretations of nearly every provision found in investment treaties: from Most Favored Nation to umbrella clauses, from National Treatment to Fair and Equitable Treatment, from indirect expropriation to threshold issues of corporate nationality. The document also implicitly condemns the investment arbitration community for its failure to police itself adequately in matters of ethics, independence, competence, impartiality, and conflicts of interest. By implication, the document acknowledges that the institutional design of investment arbitration has given rise to reasonable perceptions that the decision-making process is biased against some states and investors as well as various interests of the general public.

And yet, on the other hand, the Commission seems content to entrust to these same actors the vital constitutional task of weighing and balancing the right to regulate of sovereign states and the property rights of foreign investors. This task is one of the most profound roles that can be assigned to any national or international judicial body. The proposed text requires arbitrators to determine whether discriminatory measures are ‘necessary’ in light of the relative importance of the values and interests the measures seek to further; whether the impact of non-discriminatory ‘indirect expropriations’ have a ‘manifestly excessive impact’ on investors in light of the regulatory purpose of these measures; whether other non discriminatory measures amount to arbitrariness or fall short of standards of due process and transparency, and whether prudential regulations are ‘more burdensome than necessary to achieve their aim’. To entrust these decisions to the very actors who have an apparent financial interest in the current situation and moreover remain unaccountable to society at large is a contentious situation. In light of the criticism inherent in the consultation document, not to mention the fundamental concerns of many observers of the system, there seems to be consensus that the regime falls short of the standards required of an institutionally independent and accountable dispute settlement system.

In our view, the logical implication of the Commission’s stance is to raise the key question that is not asked in the consultation document: why consider including investor-state arbitration in the TTIP at all? The rationale for bilateral investment treaties was traditionally linked to views about the potential impact on foreign investment of uncertainty caused by weak legal and judicial systems in host countries. While such a vision of failed statehood should in itself be examined further, it suffices to point out, in the context of the relationship between the US and the EU, that it is difficult to argue realistically that investors have cause to worry about domestic legal systems on either side of the Atlantic. Above all, with FDI stocks of over €1,5 trillion either way, it is implausible to claim that investors in fact have been deterred. It is true, as the Commission points out, that nine Member States already have BITs in place with the US. It may also be true that, for these nine Member States, the new arrangement might be a better alternative than ‘doing nothing.’ That, however, hardly seems enough reason to impose on the other two thirds of Member States a Treaty that profoundly challenges their judicial, legal and regulatory systems. The consultation document comes up with one additional argument: that the rights each party grants to its own citizens and companies ‘are not always guaranteed to foreigners and foreign investors.’ The claim is unsubstantiated. Even if it is accepted, there is no obvious reason why the incorporation in TTIP of a simple norm of non discriminatory legal protection and equal access to domestic courts could not address the problem perfectly adequately.

Commissioner De Gucht has announced an ambitious programme to‘re-do’ investment law, make the system ‘more transparent and impartial’, ‘build a legally water-tight system’, and ‘close these legal loopholes once and for all.’ As we have shown in detail, the consultation document and reference text fail to achieve this. Specifically, the text:

• Fails to exclude acquisitions of sovereign debt instruments from the scope of the Treaty
• Allows anyone with a substantial business activity in the home state who holds any ‘interest’ in an enterprise in the host state to bring a claim
• Fails to spell out legal duties of investors in host states
• Fails to control the expansion of investment arbitration to purely contractual claims
• Fails to protect the ‘right to regulate’ as a general right of states alongside the many elaborate rights and protections of foreign investors, let alone as a component of the FET and Expropriation standards
• Allows for unwarranted discretion for arbitration tribunals in various ‘necessity’ tests
• Fails to further the stated principle of favoring domestic court proceedings
• Fails to regulate conflicts of interest in the adjudicative process
• Fails to formulate a policy on appellate mechanisms with any precision
• Fails to formulate a policy on avoiding ‘Treaty shopping’ with any precision
• and Fails to formulate a policy on third party submissions with any precision.

The text, in fairness, is rather better than many Investment Treaties. Some of its flaws, as we have discussed, could be addressed. But the nature of the problems associated with investor-state arbitration is not quite as straightforward as the Commission presents it. In a strange cat-and-mouse game, the Commission’s objective seems to be to ‘outwit’ arbitrators by closing down ‘loopholes’, eradicating discretion, and putting in place firm ‘rules’ on transparency of proceedings and impartiality of arbitrators. Analysis of the consultation document and the reference text, however, does not allow for the conclusion that this objective is likely to be achieved.

Yet investor-state arbitration raises some profoundly troublesome political issues regardless of arbitrator discretion. Investor-state arbitration delivers undue structural advantages to foreign investors and risks distorting the marketplace at the expense of domestically-owned companies. The benefits to foreign investors include their exclusive right of access to a special adjudicative forum, their ability to present facts and arguments in the absence of other parties whose rights and interests are affected, their exceptional role in determining the make-up of tribunals, their ability to enforce awards against states as sovereigns, the role of appointing bodies accountable directly to investors or major capital-exporting states, the absence of institutional safeguards of judicial independence that otherwise insulate adjudicators in asymmetrical adjudication from financial dependence on prospective claimants, and the bargaining advantages that can follow from these other benefits in foreign investors’ relations with legislatures, governments, and courts. At root, the system involves a shift in sovereign priorities toward the interests of foreign owners of major assets and away from those of other actors whose direct representation and participation is limited to democratic processes and judicial institutions.

In our view, this public consultation offers a good opportunity for the European Union to reflect seriously on its competences in matters of FDI under the Common Commercial Policy. As the Consultation Notice mentions, EU Member States have some 1400 BITs in place. The vast majority of them are concluded with developing countries. There is little evidence linking the conclusion of the Treaties to increased flows of FDI, and there is little evidence that they contribute to other development goals, such as encouraging good governance. In our view, these Investment Treaties and their arbitration mechanisms are in clear tension with the values of Articles 2 and 3 of the TEU that the Union is to promote in its relations with the wider world. Instead of seeking to extend the system of investment arbitration to relations with the United States, the Commission should be working towards redefining its policy on Investment Treaties, both new and existing, in ways that make it compatible with the founding values of the European Union. This requires a clearer balancing between investor rights and responsibilities and the preservation of national policy space to ensure that the interests of other stakeholders such as workers, consumers and the wider community as a whole are upheld by government.

Link : https://www.kent.ac.uk/law/isds_treaty_consultation.html