Campaigners for workers’ rights complain that they have been denied a voice in the trade talks, and have raised concerns about part of the deal that would allow corporations to sue governments for the potential loss of future profits.
“Corporate rights are treated as portable, binding and protected by enforceable laws in global trade agreements, but not so human rights,” Shawna Bader-Blau said at the opening of a migrant labor conference on Monday hosted by Solidarity Center in Bogor, 60 km (37 miles) south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
“Sitting here in Asia, you cannot help but think of slavery on ships, mass graves, the U.S. government’s disastrous upgrade of Malaysia in its trafficking in persons report – enormous desperation fuelling enormous wealth,” she said.