Civil Society leaders demand transparency in Free Trade Agreement negotiations

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130+ organisations and civil society leaders have expressed concerns at the lack of transparency and non-inclusive consultation processes adopted by the Union Government in the negotiations for entering into free trade, comprehensive economic partnership or investment related agreements.

In an open letter to the Govt of India on Tuesday, they referred to the ongoing negotiations with several countries, including the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Israel and the European Union.

Prominent among the signatories are, Jawhar Sircar, Member of Parliament; Shailesh Gandhi, former Chief Information Commissioner; Madhu Bhaduri, former Ambassador; Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan; Annie Raja, National Federation of Indian Women; Teesta Setalvad, Social Activist; Gautam Mody, NTUI; Viju Krishnan, All India Kisan Sabha; Prafulla Samantara and Meera Sanghamitra, National Alliance of People's Movements; Nikhil Dey, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan; Navsharan Singh, Researcher; Kavita Krishnan, Feminist activist and author; Leo Saldanha, Environment Support Group; Cedric Prakash, Human Rights and Peace Activist; Devaki Jain, Feminist Economist; Dinesh Abrol, former Prof JNU; M.G. Devasahaym, former civil servant and Sharad Behar, former Chief Secretary, Govt of Madhya Pradesh and several others.

The open letter is significant in the context of the fifth round of negotiations between India and European Union, currently being held in Brussels. India and the 27-nation bloc resumed negotiations in June 2022, after a gap of over eight years on the proposed agreements on trade and investments. The EU is India's third largest trading partner, accounting for €88 billion worth of trade in goods in 2021 or 10.8 per cent of total Indian trade. India is the EU's 10th largest trading partner, accounting for 2.1 per cent of EU total trade in goods.

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Looking at the possible fallout of a non-transparent process, the open letter said: "This non-consultative and exclusionary process signals a disregard for the questions of human rights, social justice and environmental impacts that wider stakeholder involvement would put on the table." It also said that the Parliament must therefore deliberate on the implications of the proposed legislative changes for the lives, livelihoods and well-being of all citizens, particularly the most vulnerable groups.

The organisations said that "given this starkly visible imbalance in the practice of transparency and inclusive consultation processes adopted by the negotiating partners", we demand that the Government of India immediately take the following steps:

1. Give wide publicity and provide open access to proposals submitted to the EU by Government of India, as well as the responses to the textual proposals tabled by the EU which are publicly available.
2. Give wide publicity and public access to the textual proposals received and responses submitted to other trading partners with whom FTA talks are going on.
3. Create forums and platforms for public stakeholders and experts including civil society, academia and media representatives to submit their views on ongoing FTA negotiations with the EU and other countries.
4. Ensure effective public participation in the negotiations by providing timely and comprehensive information on the status and details of the negotiations and holding dialogues and consultations with public stakeholders in India at each stage so that the negotiations are informed by the views and aspirations of all stakeholders.