Archived press release

Call for an end to unfair trade deals

15 January 2007

Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK and its EU partners to stop pushing unfair trade deals with developing countries at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya on 20-25 January 2007. The deals, known as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), would force open African economies and natural resources to European multinational companies - damaging the environment and deepening poverty throughout the continent.

The environmental campaign group wants these unfair trade deals to be stopped and is calling on the UK government to instead develop an alternative approach to trade that does not harm people or the environment. The EU is attempting to push these deals through before the end of the year.

Friends of the Earth Trade Campaigner Joe Zacune said:

"We want the UK Government to use its influence to stop these unfair deals going through. We have already seen the harm done to farmers in developing countries when they are forced to liberalise their markets. Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are set to damage African fledgling industries and small farmers by exposing them to unfair competition from European companies- causing mass unemployment and undermining sustainable development prospects. The EU's own impact assessment has stated that this could lead to the collapse of West Africa's manufacturing sector."

Friends of the Earth International's Africa Trade Co-ordinator George Awudi said:

"Farmers in Ghana are already suffering. They cannot compete with the subsidised produce being imported from overseas. How are farmers in this country supposed to make a living - and feed their families - if our markets are flooded with cheap rice and poultry?"

Campaigners are especially concerned about part of the current EPAs proposals known as the `Singapore issues', which were previously rejected at the WTO by developing countries, as they could force them to deregulate and open up fishery, forestry, oil, gas and mining sectors to European companies.

The impact of EPAs on African livelihoods, food security and access to natural resources is a major concern. Friends of the Earth and the international rural alliance, Via Campesina, are hosting a joint event in Nairobi, calling for food sovereignty as part of an alternative approach to current European trade proposals - ahead of the World Forum for Food Sovereignty in Mali in February 2007. [3]

Friends of the Earth Trade Campaigner Joe Zacune added:

"Today, the most important campaign to promote sustainable development in Africa centres around economic justice, in particular new trade rules and developing an alternative approach to trade that includes food sovereignty objectives."

Notes

[1] Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are trade agreements that are currently being negotiated between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. 90% of the ACP population lives in sub-Saharan Africa [3] and therefore African communities and their environment will face the impacts more than elsewhere. For more information on EPAs see the Friends of the Earth report, "Corporate Conquest: Why the UK and its EU Partners must stop forcing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) upon developing countries". www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/corporate_conquest.pdf (PDF)

[2] www.wsf2007.org

[3] Friends of the Earth International is working with mainly Southern grassroots organisations and networks such as Via Campesina and fisherfolk organisations in order to create the World Forum for Food Sovereignty or Nyeleni in Mali, 23-27 February 2007. www.nyeleni2007.org . Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to define their own food and agricultural policies - to protect and regulate agricultural production and trade for sustainable development objectives.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust