Beware the G A T S
Join the next battle against globalization!
Back in 1994 the National Government signed onto an international agreement that aims to lock open all New Zealand¹s services including education, health, broadcasting, tourism, waste management, postal services and more - to foreign companies. No one, including Parliament, had any say in how far the Government committed our services to those rules. The Agreement is known as the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS and it is run by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.
Now the Labour Government is involved in new negotiations to bring more of our services under those rules. These began in 2000. On 31 March 2003 the Government is required to tell other WTO members in Geneva what new services NZ is prepared to “offer”. Yet few people know this Agreement exists, let alone that these new talks are happening and what their effect could be.
ARENA has produced a 140 page report on the GATS. The report, titled “Serving Whose Interests?” has been written by Jane Kelsey and copies have been sent to all MPs. Visit your local MP and demand they support the “What can we do” list at the end of this alert.
1. Because the Government is negotiating, in secret, an extension to yet another binding international treaty that overrides te Tiriti o Waitangi.
2. Because this Agreement is based on an economic model that treats the world as a market place where every service is a commodity to be bought and sold, and where social justice, human rights, morality and mutual obligations have no place.
3. Because the GATS puts the interests of big foreign corporations ahead of people¹s rights to affordable, accessible and quality services.
4. Because the GATS is fundamentally anti-democratic: it prohibits central and local government, and bodies who are performing delegated responsibilities, from using policies, regulations and practices that give preference to local firms and restrict foreign control of our services, once the government has Œcommitted¹ those sectors to the rules of GATS.
5. Because the secret process of negotiating the GATS denies the public, parliamentary and tangata whenua any effective role.
6. Because the GATS aims to lock us all into the free market model of privatization, deregulation, unrestricted foreign investment, user charges, contracting out, flexible labour markets and commercial Treaty settlements that we¹ve experienced since 1984.
7. Because this Agreement is meant to be almost impossible to pull back from, even when the market model has failed or people and governments want a different approach.
8. Because the protection reserved for Maori makes no mention of te Tiriti and does nothing to address the real impacts of GATS on recognition of mana whenua, protection of taonga, promotion of the language and culture, creation and protection of decent jobs, culturally-appropriate models of development, affordable access to good quality utilities and services, and ensuring that foreign investment applications don’t impede Tiriti claims.
9. Because claims that the GATS will give exporters of services like education, construction, tourism, consultancy and Transend better access to other countries markets are highly debatable, and few ordinary New Zealanders will receive any trickle down benefits while many more will bear the costs of opening up NZ’s services to even more foreign control.
10. Because the world needs a different system of rules for an equitable trading system that is based on values of social justice, decolonization, accountability and self-determination.
There are already signs of disagreement within the Government. It¹s time that people¹s voices were heard, with demands that the Government:
* Abandons the 31 March deadline and stops its work on the GATS negotiations
* Examines and reports in detail on the implications of the existing GATS agreement for current and future policy and regulation, what it would mean if extended to other NZ services, and what the more extensive GATS rules being proposed in Geneva would mean.
* Commissions an independent Treaty Impact Analysis of what the current GATS rules and proposed new commitments could mean for Maori and te Tiriti
* Opens the debate about who should control NZ’s services, based on what principles and priorities, and how NZ governments can reclaim control of these decisions from the WTO.
* Shows leadership by promoting an alternative economic model for world trade that put the rights and needs of people and poorer countries before those of transnational corporations.
You can purchase a copy of the report from ARENA, Box 2450, Christchurch (Cost is $20 plus $3 post and packing) Or you can download a copy from our website www.arena.org.nz/GATS version 1.pdf
If you need more information contact ARENA.