Stop the GATS Power Play Against Citizens of the World!

Oakland Institute

Developing countries are facing enormous pressure to open their service markets to powerful foreign-based, for-profit corporations from the industrialized countries. Forty developing countries and 32 less-developed countries are being told to open up their finance, energy, environment, water, tourism, distribution and transportation services to foreign market forces while the big business lobby machines like the U.S. Coalition of Service Industries and the European Services Forum are pushing hard for developing countries to make commitments now – without democratic mandate. These commitments are socially irresponsible. What’s worse, they are effectively irreversible.

On June 15, 2005, NGOs and unions sent a joint statement to all WTO delegations in Geneva, outlining a number of concerns dealing with deregulation, investment policies, employment impacts, and the dangers of privatization that GATS could lock in for the future. The statement also makes a number of demands aimed at allowing developing countries to regain and retain ownership of their trade and services policies.