Secret RCEP trade deal fails international standards of transparency, experts warn
Press release
19 July, 2018
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19 July, 2018
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being negotiated in Bangkok, Thailand this week. The mega regional trade deal involving 16 nations from Asia-Pacific will impact the lives of over three billion people, yet a new study reveals how the deal fails international standards of transparency and public engagement.
Experts measured the RCEP negotiations against criteria for Transparency and Public Participation in policy making. The outcome was a resounding FAIL. The report finds the RCEP negotiations to be:
"RCEP is a secret trade deal that fails to live up to internationally recognized standards. Secrecy breeds corruption and bad decisions. People have a right to know what is being negotiated in their name."
Sam Cossar, Friends of the Earth International
"In India, the process of negotiating RCEP has been characterised by not just lack of parliamentary scrutiny but also the complete non involvement of regional governments who will bear the brunt of cheaper agricultural and manufacturing imports. Elected representatives such as the Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala are arguing that this is a violation of the principle of federalism that is enshrined in the Indian constitution."
Benny Kuruvilla, Transnational Institute
"Trade unions across Asia Pacific are opposed to the RCEP because it is anti-democratic, anti-worker and anti-people. It is a threat to quality public services essential to advancing rights for all people. Governments have made commitments to tri-partism; to involve workers and employers in setting policies that impact on labour rights. Instead, governments appear to be taking instructions from the largest foreign multinational companies and protecting their interests."
Kate Lappin from Public Services International (PSI)
"The resounding call of peoples' movements is for governments to reject RCEP. Yet governments continue to ignore this call by undermining people’s efforts to secure access to the negotiating texts and restricting spaces for people’s participation in the negotiating process. The democratic deficit in RCEP is made worse by the privileged access given to corporations."
Joseph Purugganan of Focus on the Global South
"The space for democratic process in the RCEP negotiation should be opened. If this democratic space doesn’t exist then the RCEP must be rejected as violating human rights."
Rachmi Hertanti, Director, Indonesia for Global Justice
References:
A full copy of the report is available here
For further information contact:
Sam Cossar, Friends of the Earth International
sam.cossargilbert[at]foe.org.au
Mobile: +61 413496570
Benny Kuruvilla, Transnational Institute
bennyk[at]tni.org
Mobile: +91 9873921191
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