The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has signed this open letter that calls on policymakers in Mexico and the European Union (EU) not to ratify the “modernized” EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (EU-Mexico FTA).

Among the letter’s 121 signatories are: Alianza Sierra Madre A.C., Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria,  A. C., Organización Familia Pasta de Conchos, and Proyecto sobre Organización,  Desarrollo,  Educación e Investigación (PODER).

The letter highlights:

“Worryingly, the proposed Investment Court System (ICS) does not address the worst parts of the classic investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This means that EU investors will be able to sue Mexico (and vice versa) in a parallel justice system that prioritizes their private interests, while environmental, social, and general regulations take a back seat.”

“European companies have a long history of violating human and environmental rights in Mexico with almost total impunity. …In the cases of the water bottling companies, Bonafont/Danone are accountable for dispossession and devastation in the Choluteca Zone, where the resistance of the United Peoples is being criminalized and repressed. The new treaty will also deepen the impunity of European corporations involved in the construction of large-scale projects with serious socio-environmental impacts on the territory, such as the Morelos Integral Project (PIM), the mega wind farms, the Interoceanic Corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, or the Mayan Train, among others. In these cases, either the right to prior, free, informed and culturally appropriate consultation and consent or refusal has been directly violated, or the implementation, which does not adhere to international standards, is generating major divisions and conflicts between communities.”

The full letter can be read here.

Further reading: PBI-Mexico highlights concerns with the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and Mexico (TLCUEM)