EU-Indonesia Trade Deal Threatens Communities and Environment
On September 23th the European Union and Indonesia concluded their negotiations of the EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), a free trade agreement between the EU and Indonesia. Both ENDS condemns this agreement for favoring corporate interests over those of local communities and the environment.
At a time of a worsening planetary crisis, democratic backsliding and shrinking civic space, the EU-Indonesia deal promotes extraction and will put even more pressure on local communities and ecosystems. The agreement fosters trade in agro-commodities like palm oil and raw materials such as nickel, even though both are drivers of deforestation and land grabbing in Indonesia. It favors the interests of big business over small farmers, fisherfolk and indigenous peoples and will only serve to widen the inequality gap between them.
It is vitally important that any trade deal has meaningful safeguards or brakes. Binding provisions on the protection of the environment, communities and workers must be an essential condition for responsible and sustainable trade agreements. Resource extraction in Indonesia is rapidly accelerating, from forestry products to mining, and deforestation is surging. The human rights situation in Indonesia is deteriorating. We fear that this trade agreement will accelerate exploitation and environmental destruction.
To make matters worse, trade deals including this one are negotiated in secrecy, even though it will affect the daily lives of citizens in both Indonesia and Europe. Matters such as jobs, rights, growth strategies, and protection of the natural world are public policy issues that should be debated in the open, in the full light of day, so that the public can see what is on the table and may be being traded away. We call on decision makers to reject the agreement.
Find here the press release by the European Trade Justice Coalition.
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