Free trade agreements threaten right to food and health
Daily News & Analysis (DNA), India
Free trade agreements threaten right to food and health
By Vineeta Pandey
8 December 2011
Just on the day when the government suspended its decision on FDI in the retail sector, a report by United Nations’ Working Group on Human Rights in India pointed that the country’s free trade agreements (FTA) threaten the rights to food, health, work and development, especially of vulnerable groups.
It said FTAs create legally obligations on the government, affecting livelihoods in agriculture, fisheries and manufacturing. It pointed out that the EU-India FTA, for instance, would cut tariffs to zero for key sectors that support many producers, workers thus exposing them to highly competitive international markets.
It was estimated that about 60 million people were displaced due to ostensible ‘development’ projects over the last 60 years, and out of these only one-third have been resettled.
