Latest Updates

Two inspiring days of ideas and action with the Alternative Trade Mandate Alliance. From Tuesday, June 26th (start 1 pm) until Wednesday, June 27th (5pm) 2012 at 11.11.11, Vlasfabriekstraat 11, 1060 Brussels (...)

Vote in the European Parliament: is liberalisation the answer to Arab revolutions? On year ago, populations in North Africa were in the streets to claim democracy and social justice. These two demands are under threat with the vote on Thursday 10th May, in the European Parliament: a resolution supporting the liberalization of trade and investment for serious engagement and for the EU to display political leadership under the lovely title ?trade for change? (...)

Sign-on Letter with 38 International and 137 National Organizations from Across the Globe. Delivered to Negotiators at UNCTAD XIII in Doha (...)

UNCTAD publishes its annual review of investor-State dispute settlement cases. ​2011 marks a new record with at least 46 new investment arbitration cases initiated against host countries - the highest number of known treaty-based disputes ever filed in one year (...)

On 29th and 30th March 2012 the second Joint Social Conference took place in Brussels. The participants approved the following declaration: Resisting Financial Dictatorship - Reclaiming Democracy and Social Rights - Political Declaration & Coordinated Action- JSC 2012. Read or download it in English or French.

EU Deep and Comprehensive Trade Agreements: A Threat to the Aspirations of
the Arab Revolutions -  A Seattlle to Brussels Paper by Michel Cermak (CNCD-11.11.11),  Amélie Cannonne (Aitec) and Roeline Knottnerus (SOMO)(...)

DECLARATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS AT THE ALTERNATIVE WORLD WATER FORUM IN MARSEILLE, 14 ? 17 march 2012. As members of the global water justice movement gathered together in Marseille in March 2012 at FAME (Alternative World Water Forum), we have a shared vision of water: water is a commons, not a commodity (read or download the declaration in English, French or Spanish)

International Metalworkers Federation South Asia Office organized a workshop on EU India Free Trade Agreement on February 14 and 15 in New Delhi. Representatives of Indian national trade union centres and Indian affiliates of IMF, BWI, ITGLWF, UNI, ICEM exchanged views on trade policies and implications for development and employment with IMF affiliates from France, Italy, Canada, Argentina and Japan (...)

Make no mistake: the EU's trade policy is about the EU's offensive corporate interests - On Friday January 27th, the European Commission (EC) released a Communication entitled "Trade, growth and Development - Tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need". The Seattle to Brussels Network finds this title grossly misleading (...)

Human Rights Watch in its 2012 Report on violence against Trade Unionists in Colombia writes: "While the number of trade unionists killed every year is less today than a decade ago, it remains higher than any other country in the world: 51 trade unionists were murdered in 2008, 47 in 2009, 51 in 2010, and 26 from January to November 15, 2011, according to the National Labor School (ENS), Colombia's leading NGO monitoring labor rights". Read the part of the Report dedicated to Colombia.

Final declaration of the Week of Action against BITs and for an Alternative Investment Regime. Read or download it in English, Spanish or French, and se the lsit of the signatures up to date 6th December 2011 (...)

5 - 8 November 2011, Brussels
International investment agreements (IIAs), such as Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), pose a threat to economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, as well as to democracy and people's sovereignty. It is time to challenge them back and push for an alternative system that makes investment an engine for sustainable development! Read or download the invitation, detailed program, banners & posters (...) - Info Package with Power Point presentations, videos and more available here

In November, France will take over the Presidency of the G8 and the G20 and will be organizing their summits in June and November 2011. But while summits pass, the economic, financial, ecological and social crises remain. The last G8 and G20 meetings (in Pittsburgh 2009 and Toronto 2010) did not bring and real answers to these crises. On the contrary, all the evidence points to them having sought above all to reconfirm the legitimacy of the actors and the mechanisms behind these crises, all while making citizens foot the bill (...)

Paris, 28 th  and 29 th  of October 2011 - The financialization of natural resources: Understanding the new dynamics and developing civil society answers to it - In recent years civil society has focused on tackling financial speculation in food commodities, as it is regarded as one of the main drivers of food price volatility that heavily impacts small producers and the poor. Similarly governments have been discussing the issue in the context of the G20 focus on food security, but with marginal and contradictory results so far. At the same time, similar attention is being paid by governments to oil and other hard commodities speculation, where prices are even more volatile and the impacts on energy dependant countries are equally severe (...)

After the mobilisations in Ottawa, parallel to the 9th round of negotiations between the EU and Canada of a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), social movements from Canda and Europe launched a joint statement: "Corporations must not make the law". Read or download the statement in English or in French.

On October 15th people from all over the world will take to the streets and squares. From America to Asia, from Africa to Europe, people are rising up to claim their rights and demand a true democracy. Now it is time for all of us to join in a global non violent protest (...)

The European Parliament approved the Resolution "New trade policy for Europe under the Europe 2020 Strategy" on September 27th, 2011, following the communication of the Commission "Trade Growth and World Affairs". Even with the usual rhetoric on issues like human rights, labour rights, climate change, agriuculture policy and energy security, the wide majority of the EP demands to the Commission to push for more "free trade". The EP also demands a revision of the EU Strategy in 2013.

On Monday 12 September the General Affairs Council approved negotiating mandates for investment protection chapters in free trade agreements with Canada, India and Singapore. European Member States refuse necessary reform, ignore the will of the European Parliament and insist that future EU investment agreements copy their bad practices. Read or download the S2B Statement and the text of the mandates.

Europe?s people are now experiencing the first structural adjustment policies which governments are imposing on their populations that until now have been imposed on peoples in other regions in particular the Global South; this with the sole interest of saving capitalism and those who benefit from it (private banks, investment groups and transnational corporations). All signs are that in the near future these antisocial policies will become more severe and extensive (...)

Two years ago, a number of trade activists and campaigners from Europe and the Global South initiated a process of working together "Towards an alternative trade mandate for the EU". After broad consultation and exchanges, this process has now reached a new stage in our struggle (...)

The online petition "No New Corporate Privileges - Change EU Investment Policy Now!" was signed by 2929 people. Also, the statement "Just EU Investment Policy now!" (available in English - Italian - French - Spanish - Dutch - German) was signed by 114 EU civil society organisations, 3 international networks and 65 non-EU organisations(full list here). Both statement and petition were sent to 736 Members of the European Parliament on 4th April. (...)