ATTENTION --- Civil Society Activists Around the World!

Stop the GATS Attack Now!

Although the Battle of Seattle was successful in preventing a new comprehensive round of global trade talks from going ahead, this did not mean there would not be trade negotiations at the WTO. On the contrary, a whole new set of WTO talks on global trade in 'services' began in February, 2000, with formal negotiations due to begin this spring after a crucial stocktaking session is completed at the end of March. These so called GATS negotiations [General Agreement on Trade in Services] could have a dramatic and profound effect on a wide range of public services and citizens' rights all over the world.

Below is a statement, Stop the GATS Attack Now!, which has been prepared by an international network of civil society organizations working on WTO issues. As with previous initiatives like No New Round! and Shrink or Sink!, we hope this statement will help to launch and link together a series of country-based campaigns on the GATS negotiations all over the world. We would greatly appreciate it if your organization would consider signing-on to this statement as soon as possible. The procedures for doing so are outlined below. It is our intention to collect sign-ons from civil society organizations in as many countries as possible before formally launching the statement in mid-March prior to the GATS stocktaking meetings in Geneva later that month. So, please let us know soon if your organization can sign-on!

Instructions on how your organization can sign the letter: (This is an organizational sign-on letter only. We will not be adding individuals to it)

1) Send an e-mail to polarisinstitute@on.aibn.com

2) In the subject line type in "GATS Attack signatory"

3) In the body of the e-mail list the organization & country (contact information such as address, phone & fax is also appreciated) that you are signing on. Those who wish should mention how many people the organization represents.

Stop the GATS Attack Now!

As civil society groups fighting for democracy through fair trade and investment rules, we reject the outright dismissal by the World Trade Organization [WTO], some of its member governments and allied corporations of the vital concerns raised by civil society before, during and after Seattle.

The smoke and pepper spray had barely lifted from the streets of Seattle when the WTO launched new negotiations to expand global rules on cross border trade in services in a manner that would create vast new rights and access for multinational service providers and newly constrain government action taken in the public interest world wide. These talks would radically restructure the role of government regarding public access to essential social services world wide to the detriment of the public interest and democracy itself.

Initiated in February 2000, these far-reaching negotiations are aimed at expanding the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services [GATS] regime so as to subordinate democratic governance in countries throughout the world to global trade rules established and enforced by the WTO as the supreme body of global economic governance. What's more, these GATS 2000 negotiations are taking place behind closed doors based on collusion with global corporations and their extensive lobbying machinery.

The existing GATS regime of the WTO, initially established in 1994, is already comprehensive and far reaching. The current rules seek to phase out gradually all governmental "barriers" to international trade and commercial competition in the services sector. The GATS covers every service imaginable &endash; including public services &endash;in sectors that affect the environment, culture, natural resources, drinking water, health care, education, social security, transportation services, postal delivery and a variety of municipal services. Its constraints apply to virtually all government measures affecting trade-in- services, from labor laws to consumer protection, including regulations, guidelines, subsidies and grants, licensing standards and qualifications, and limitations on access to markets, economic needs tests and local content provisions.

Currently, the GATS rules apply to all modes of supplying or delivering a service including foreign investment, cross-border provisions of a service, electronic commerce and international travel. Moreover, the GATS features a hybrid of both a "top-down" agreement [where all sectors and measures are covered unless they are explicitly excluded] and a "bottom-up" agreement [where only sectors and measures which governments explicitly commit to are covered]. What this means is that presently certain provisions apply to all sectors while others apply only to those specific sectors agreed to.

The new GATS negotiations taking place now in the World Trade Organization are designed to further facilitate the corporate takeover of public services by:

1) Imposing new and severe constraints on the ability of governments to maintain or create environmental, health, consumer protection and other public interest standards through an expansion of GATS Article VI on Domestic Regulation. Proposals include a 'necessity test' whereby governments would bear the burden of proof in demonstrating that any of their countries laws and regulations are 'not more burdensome than necessary,' (in other words, the least trade restrictive) regardless of financial, social, technological or other considerations.

2) Restricting the use of government funds for public works, municipal services and social programs. By imposing the WTO's National Treatment rules on both government procurement and subsidies, the new negotiations seek to require governments to make public funds allocated for public services directly available to foreign-based, private service corporations.

3) Forcing governments to grant unlimited Market Access to foreign service providers, without regard to the environmental and social impacts of the quantity or size of service activities.

4) Accelerating the process of providing corporate service providers with guaranteed access to domestic markets in all sectors - including education, health and water &endash; by permitting them to establish their Commercial Presence in another country through new WTO rules being designed to promote tax-free electronic commerce worldwide. This would guarantee transnational corporations speedy irreversiblemarket access, especially in Third World countries.

The chief beneficiaries of this new GATS regime are a breed of corporate service providers determined to expand their global commercial reach and to turn public services into private markets all over the world. Not only are the services industries the fastest growing sector of the new global economy, but also health, education and water are shaping up to be the most lucrative of all "services." Health care is considered to be a 3.5 trillion dollar market worldwide, while education is targeted as a 2 trillion and water a 1 trillion dollar annual market. The chief executive officer of U.S. based Columbia/ HCA, the world's largest for-profit hospital corporation, insists that health care is a business no different than the airline or ballbearingindustry and vows to destroy every public hospital in North America.

Investment houses like Merrill Lynch predict that public education will be globally privatized over the next decade, declaring that untold profits can bemade through the process.

Meanwhile, water giants like Vivendi and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux of France are working hand-in-glove with the World Bank to compel many Third World governments to privatize their water services.

Through powerful lobby machines like the U.S. Coalition of Service Industries and the European Services Forum, these and other transnational corporations have effectively set the agenda for the GATS 2000 negotiations. If achieved, this corporate GATS 2000 agenda will amount to a frontal attack on the fundamental social rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its accompanying Covenants and Charters.

Not only will foreign-based, for-profit corporations be able to access public dollars to takeover hospitals and schools, but regulations on health and education standards will be undermined by global trade rules under the WTO. Chains of foreign-based, for-profit corporations would be able to invade the childcare, social security and prison systems in all WTO member countries. Our parks, wildlife and old growth forests could all become contested areas as global corporate 'service' providers compete with one another to exploit their resources. Meanwhile, unlimited access to foreign-based corporations would have to be given regarding municipal contracts for construction, sewage, garbage disposal, sanitation, tourism, and water services.

For many Third World countries, this invasion of peoples' basic rights is not new. During the past two decades or more, the structural adjustment programs of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been used to force many governments in the South to dismantle their public services and allow foreign-based healthcare, education and water corporations to provide services on a for-profit basis. Under the proposed GATS rules, developing countries will experience a further dismantling of local service providers, restrictions on the build up of domestic service providers, and the creation of new monopolies dominated by corporate service providers based in the North. By dramatically increasing market control by foreign service corporations and by threatening the future of public services, the GATS 2000 agenda would trigger a global assault on the commons and democracy both in the North and the South.

Moreover, the binding enforcement mechanisms of the WTO will ensure that this agenda is not only implemented, but rendered irreversible. The time has come to 'Stop the GATS Attack!'

We, therefore, call upon our governments to immediately invoke a moratorium on the GATS 2000 negotiations and devote the remaining two years of the scheduledtalks to carrying out the following tasks:

[a] conduct a full and complete assessment of the impacts of the current GATS regime and the implications of the proposed GATS 2000 rules on domestic social, environmental and economic laws, policies and programs with citizens' groups in all member countries

[b] reaffirm the role and responsibility of governments to provide public services ensuring the basic rights and needs of their citizens in the new global economy based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related U.N. Covenants and Charters;

[c] declaw the existing GATS regime by removing components like Article VI and the Working Party on Domestic Regulation that give foreign governments and transnational corporations the power to ratchet down public interest laws, policies, and programs such as quality standards for health care and safety standards for transportation;

[d] guarantee the right of governments to require ironclad safeguards for public services [e.g. healthcare, education, social security, culture, environment, transportation, housing, energy, and water] that may be threatened by global trade and investment rules;

[e] provide concrete incentives and resources, especially for governments in the South, to fulfill their universal obligations (see 'b' above) by further developing and strengthening the provision of public services based on peoples' needs rather than on ability to pay

[f] develop mechanisms for effective participation by citizen organizations in both the formulation of their government positions and in the negotiation of any global trade and investment rules in the future regarding cross border services;

[g] secure the rights and responsibilities of governments to enact and carry out laws and regulations protecting the environment and natural resources, health and safety, poverty reduction, and social well-being. rules on domestic social, environmental and economic laws, policies and programs with citizens' groups in all member countries;

Finally, we call on our governments to end all IMF, World Bank and Multilateral Development Bank pressure on developing countries to privatize public services, especially in the area of education, health and water.

Organizations currently signed-on to the "Stop the GATS Attack" Statement (as of March 19th, 2001):

Number of Organizations = 376

Number of Countries = 51

International

Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)

Fair Trade Federation (Canada & US)

Grassroots International

Indigenous Peoples' Biodiversity Network, IPBN

International Federation of Journalists

International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO)

People-Centered Development Forum

Public Service International (PSI)

Union Network International - Asian and Pacific Regional Organisation (UNI

Apro)

Xaverian Missionaries

Argentina

Asociacion de Empleados de Farmacia (ADEF)

Equipo de Seguimiento, Investigación y Propuestas para las Mujeres (ESIPP)

Foro de Consulta para la Participacion Ciudadana en las Politivcas de

Desarrollo

Foro para la Participacion Ciudadana en las Politicas de Desarrollo (FOCO)

Iniciativa Arcoiris de Ecologia y Sociedad

Instituto de Capacitacion de la Union de Empleados de Justicia de la Nacion

Instituto para el Desarrollo de la Micro y Pequeña Empresa (IDEMI)

Union Obreros Metalurgicos (UOM)

Australia

Aberrant Genotype Press

ACT Greens

Australian Council of Trade Unions

Australian Education Union

Australian Greens

Australian manufacturing Workers' Union

Community Information Association, Brisbane

Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) - Forest & Forest

Products Division

Conversations for the 21st Century

Economic Reform Australia (ERA)

Information for Action

People for Nuclear Disarmament

Queensland Division of the National Tertiary Education Union, Brisbane

Queensland Nurses' Union of Employees

Quest 2025, Australia

StopMAI Coalition, Western Australia

Sydney People Against A New Nuclear Reactor (SPANNR)

Townsville Feminist Collective

TROPO (Tweed Richmond Organic Producers Organisation)

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA

Urban Ecology Australia Inc

World Development Tea Co-operative Ltd.

WTO Watch Qld, Brisbane

WTO Watch ACT &endash; Australia

Austria

Anti Atom International

Buendnis fuer Eine Welt/OeIE

Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence

GLOBAL 2000/FOE Austria

Grüne Bildungswerkstatt Tirol

Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika (IGLA)

Salzburg Forum against MAI/WTO

Bangladesh

Gonoshasthaya Kendra

Karmojibi Nari (KN)

Belgium

International Coalition for Development Action

Life, the Ecocreactive Platform

OXFAM Belgium

URFIG

Bolivia

CENDA (Centro de Comunicación y Desarrollo Andino)

Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida de Cochabamba

Comité Integrador de Organizaciones Económicas Campesinas de Bolivia

Fundacion Solon]

TINKU JUVENIL (cultural youth group, Cochabamba)

Brazil

Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT)

Canada

Alberta Council For Global Cooperation

Canadian Action Party

Canadian Federation of Students

Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

Church of the Holy Trinity

Citizen Environment Alliance

Council of Canadians

Defence of Canadian Liberty Committee

Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice

FarmFolk/CityFolk Society

FemJEPP (Feminists for Just & Equitable Public Policy), Nova Scotia

Hospital Employees' Union (British Columbia)

International Socialists

Kingston & District Labour Council

L.I.N.C. (Low Income Needs Coalition)

MAI-Day Coalition for Human Rights

Northumberland Labour Council (Cobourg)

Ogoni Solidarity Network &endash; Canada

Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation

Pacific Policy Collective

Polaris Institute

The Safe Water Group in Prince Edward County

Transformative Learning Centre Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Women's Centres CONNECT!

Chile

Red de Educadores Humanistas de Chile

China

Asia Monitor Resource Center- Hong Kong

Colombia

Centro de Debate y Acción Ambiental

Centro de Estudios del Trabajo, Cedetrabajo Revista Deslinde

Corporacion Grupo de Apoyo Pedagogico

Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales Alternativos Ilsa

Movimiento Obrero Independiente y Revolucionario, MOIR

Costa Rica

COECOCeiba, Friends of the Earth

Democratic Republic of Congo

National Mouvement For Democracy & Federalism in the Congo

Denmark

Southern Africa Contact, Denmark

Fiji

Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Finland

Alternative to EU

Friends of the Earth Finland

France

Association YHAD

ATTAC

ATTAC-Vendee

CCCOMC de Nemours et ses environs

Collectif Sauver les Lettres

Ecoropa

Federation syndicale unitaire (FSU)

France Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand

Institut de recherches historiques, economiques, sociales et culturelles

(IRHESC)

le Passant Ordinaire, la revue, les editions

Magistère de Relations Internationales et Action àl'Etranger (MRIAE)

Mouvement National de Lutte pour l'Environnement (MNLE)

Nature & Progrès - Fédération internationale d'agriculture biologique

Network Against Corporate Rule and Neoliberal Policy

Observatoire de la Mondialisation

Pain et Liberté

PANAMAFRICA

SNESup (Syndicat national de l'enseignement supérieur)

Solagral

Solidarites Jeunesses

Syndicat de la Médecine Générale

Syndicat CGT du CEE (24 syndiqués)

Germany

Active Partnership With the Southern Hemisphere

Aktionszentrum 3. Welt e.V

Arbeitskreis Internationalismus der IG Metall Berlin (International

Metalworkers - Berlin)

Berlin Working Group on Environment and Development

Ghana Union

Massenmensch.de Germany

Network Against Corporate Rule and Neoliberal Policy

World Economy, Ecology & Development

Ghana

All Africa Students Union (AASU)

Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC)

International Socialist Organisation, Ghana

India

Bengal Regional Theologate of the Jesuits

EQUATIONS- Equitable Tourism Options

Indian Institute of Development

International Group for Grassroots Initiatives

Jananeethi

Loyola Hall

Sanctuary Magazine

Shramik Abhivrudhi Sangh

Social Animation Towards United Liberative Action (SANTULAN)

St Aloysius College

St. Xavier's College Jesuit Management

Tamilnadu Resource Team

Tamilnadu Women's Collective

Thanal Conservation Action and Information Network

Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr

Udayani Social Action Forum

UPVAN (Uttar Pradesh Voluntary Action Network)

The Women's Centre, Mumbai

Women's Welfare Center (WWC)

World Voices, India

Youth For Unity And Voluntary Action (YUVA)

Indonesia

DELAPAN Foundation

Federation of Indonesian Peasant Unions (FIPU)

KALIPTRA Foundation

International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development (INFID)

North Sumatra Peasant Union

SINTESA Foundation

Walhi Lampung

Yayasan Pelita Kasih Abadi (PEKA)

Ireland

Attac-Ireland

Irish Green Party

Israel

Green course - students for the environment

Italy

SEDOS Working Group on the Debt &endash; Italy

SHALOM-International Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Network of the

School Sisters of Notre Dame &endash; Italy

SinCOBAS

Japan

A SEED Japan

APEC Monitoring NGO Network

Friends of the Earth, Japan

Jambo International Center

Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC)

Shimin Gaikou Center - Citizens' Diplomatic Center for the Rights of

Indigenous peoples (ECOSOC NGO)

Latvia

Green Liberty

Malaysia

Citizens' Health Initiative &endash; Malaysia

Mexico

Red de Permacultura México

Namibia

College for the Arts/National Arts Extension Programme

Nepal

Integrated Organization System(IOS)

Jajarkot Permaculture Programme

Nepal Kingdom Foundation

Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)

Netherlands

Both ENDS &endash; Netherlands

Corporate Europe Observatory

International League of Peoples' Struggle

Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands)

Transnational Institute

New Zealand

FAIR NZ &endash; New Zealand

Pacific Institute of Resource Management (PIRM)

Nicaragua

Centro Alexander Von Humboldt - Amigos de la Tierra Nicaragua

International People´s Health Council (IPHC)

Norway

For the Welfare State (For velferdsstaten)

GATT-WTO Campaign, Norway

Nei til EU / No to the EU

Norwegian Association of Health and Social Care Personnel

Norwegian Civil Service Union

Norwegian Farmer and Smallholders Union

Norwegian Nurses Association

Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees

Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers

Norwegian Union of Teachers

Teachers' Union, Norway

Pakistan

Development VISIONS

ROOTS for Equity &endash; Pakistan

Peru

Asociacion Kechua-Aymara ANDES

Asociacion Regional de Productores Ecologicos del Cusco

Philippines

Anti-Globalization Movement

Countrywide Indigenous Pilipinos Foundation, Inc

Initiatives For International Dialogue

Romania

For Mother Earth-Romania

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Senegal

CIRPED

Slovakia

Center for Environmental Public Advocacy / Friends of the Earth

Slovenia

DEA- Citizens' Antitoxics Action

South Africa

Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC)

eThekwini ECOPEACE &endash; South Africa

Green Party of South Africa

Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC)

South Korea

Green Korea United

Taegu Round

Spain

ATTAC Cataluña

Eukinonia

Etica y Sociedad

Human Rights Observatory (Observatorio de Derechos Humanos, DESC)

Mesa Civica por los Derechos Sociales

El Rincon de Gaia &endash; Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Platforma Canaria de Seguimiento del Ami y sus Clones (Islas Canarias)

RED ciudadana para la abolicion de la deuda externa en Madrid

Sindicato de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de la Enseñanza de la Región de

Murcia

Switzerland

Berne Declaration

Centre régional Sebasol Vaud

Forum for direct Democracy Europa-Magazin

Thailand

Focus on the Global South

Rural Reconstruction Alumni and Friends Association (RRAFA)

Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF)

Turkey

SOS ISTANBUL Cevre Gonulluleri Platformu (Environmental Volunteers' Platform)

Working Group Against MAI and Globalisation

United Kingdom

Anti-Globalisation Network

Brighton & Hove Green Party

The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom

Centre for Alternative Technology

Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of

Warwick

Chesham and Amersham Green Party

Chigwell Justice and Peace Centre

Christian Council for Monetary Justice

Christian Ecology Link

Communities Against Toxics

The Corner House

Coventry Trades Union Council

CYFLE Cymru LETS, Wales

Devizes & Marlborough Friends of the Earth

Earth Rights Institute, Scotland

The Ecologist

Environment Resource and Information Centre

Forum for Stable Currencies, House of Lords

Friends of the Earth, Swindon

Friends of the Earth, Lambeth

The Gaia Trust

George Washington University Action Coalition

Green Economy Policy Working Group of the Green Party of England and Wales

Green Party, Bath

Green Party, Wansdyke, North East Somerset

Green Socialist Network

JPIC Desk

Mid & North Herts Friends of the Earth

Muir's Tours (Nepal Kingdom Foundation Trading Ltd)

Northern Rivertowns Subchapter of the Westchester Green Party

North Sheffield Action Group

Socialist Workers Party

Stort Valley Friends of the Earth

Tools For Self Reliance Cymru

Tourism Concern, UK

V & V Network (Values and Vision)

Vision in Action magazine, Wales

Wholesome Food Association

World Development Movement

World Voices

United States

Africa Action (Africa Policy Information Center, The Africa Fund, and the

American Committee on Africa)

AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees)

Alliance for Democracy

American Postal Workers Union Local 497

Asia Pacific Center for Justice and Peace

Campus Greens

Capital District (NY) Labor-Religion Coalition, Albany

Carolina Animal Rights Effort

Cascadia Forest Alliance

The Center for the Study of Voluntary Organizations and Service

Coastal Convergence Society

Concerned Citizens Coalition of Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer Counties

CorpWatch, USA

Corvallis Action on Globalization

Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice

Earth Island Journal

The Eco-Store

The Edmonds Institute

8th Day Center for Justice

Environmental Health Advocacy League (ENHALE)

Environmental Research Foundation

Essential Action

50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice

Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy

Forest Guardians

Gallatin-Park Alliance for Democracy

Global Exchange

Global Resource Action Center for the Environment

Global Response

Globalization Challenge Initiative

Goldeneaglevideo Foundation

The Grail

Grantmakers Without Borders

Greater Kansas City Fair Trade Coalition

Greater Sacramento Alliance for Democracy

The Greens/Green Party USA

Hawai'i Institute for Human Rights

Humane Society of the United States

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Institute Justice Team - Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

The Institute for Economic Democracy

Indiana Alliance For Democracy

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

International Socialist Organization

The Institute for Economic Democracy

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Jobs with Justice

Mangrove Action ProjectEcosystems Defense Group

Massachusetts Green Party

Medical Mission Sisters

Mendocino Coast Alliance for Democracy

Metro Justice of Rochester, Inc.

Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition

MoKan Alliance for Democracy

New York City Friends of Clearwater

The North American Coalition for Christianity and Ecology (NACCE)

Northern Utah Organic Group

Obed Watershed Association

Ohio Fair Trade Campaign

Olympia Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee

Oregon Committee to Re-Elect NOBODY for President

180/Movement for Democracy and Education

Pacific Environment and Resources Center

Peninsula Peace & Justice Center

Pennsylvania Consumer Action Network (PCAN)

Physicians for a National Health Program

Public Citizen

Rainforest Action Network

ReclaimDemocracy.org

Resource Center for the Americas

Sacramentans For International Labor Rights

San Diego WTO Alert

Sacramento Activists for Democratic Trade (SacActs)

Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign

Service Employees International Union (SEIU)

SEIU #503, Oregon Public Employees Union

Shenandoah Ecosystems Defense Group

Solidarity Committee of the Capital District/Jobs with Justice, Albany

Southern Neighborhoods Network

Sub-Guerrilla Art Collective! (SGAC)

Texas Committee on Natural Resources (TCNR)

Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB)

The Thomas Merton Center

United Church of Christ, Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility

United for a Fair Economy

Vassar College Student Activist Union

Virginia Forest Watch

Virginians for Wilderness

Washington State Africa Network

West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (WE ACT)

Who's Counting? Project

Wisconsin Fair Trade Campaign

Women, Food and Agriculture Network

Women's Environment and Development Organization

Uruguay

REDES- Friends of the Earth, Uruguay

REPEM : Education Network Among Women , America Latina y el Caribe

Zimbabwe

MWENGO (Mwelekeo wa NGO)

SEATINI &endash; Zimbabwe

Counter Set April 6, 2001