Labor and environment groups call for delay in US-Peru free trade agreement

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Examiner

by Ron Moore

The Bush administration appears determined to sign off on a free trade agreement with Peru before leaving office on January 20th despite widespread concern that Peru's laws are still not in compliance with its obligations under the agreement. U.S. environmental, labor and development organizations said that a new set of reforms passed by Peru's Congress this week are inadequate to fix all the problems. They urged the U.S. Trade Representative to hold off putting the FTA into effect until it can be verified that all provisions to protect the environment, promote worker rights and ensure access to affordable medicines are in place.

"The U.S. Congress voted for an FTA that Members believed represented a new day for environmental protection and worker rights in trade agreements," said Susan Ellsworth, Associate Representative with the Sierra Club. "This is not what will happen if Peru rushes through flawed laws at the 11th hour. We need sufficient time and a transparent process to ensure that Peru's laws and regulations fully comply with the letter and spirit of the agreement."

In a last-minute effort to get the Bush Administration to allow the FTA to enter into force before leaving office, the Peruvian Government introduced a new series of legislative reforms on January 8th ("Proyecto de Ley 2958") that were only passed into law on January 13th. They include changes to a highly controversial new Forestry Law, which initially caused outrage among environmentalists in Peru by creating perverse incentives for potentially large-scale deforestation. These new reforms fail to fully address all of the problems with that legislation - and even create some new ones - that could result in greater deforestation. Peru has the second-largest part of the Amazon rainforest, containing some of the world's greatest biodiversity as well as many indigenous peoples.

Peru also has yet to enact reforms necessary to bring its labor laws into full compliance with its commitments in the FTA. Many members of the U.S. Congress, including President-elect Barack Obama, supported the U.S.-Peru agreement in 2007 because it included new and stronger provisions to promote worker rights and protect the environment. But the rush to certify the FTA now threatens to undercut these advances and lock inadequate laws into place.



Read more: http://www.examiner.com/x-2071-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner~y2009m1d18-Labor-and-environment-groups-call-for-delay-in-USPeru-free-trade-agreement?cid=exrss-DC-Special-Interests-Examiner

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Where is the MSM?

[Deja Q]

1. " Where is the MSM?"

Where the money is. There's more profit in other events than it is putting up actual news.