As part of the Trade and Development Symposium (TDS) in December 2015 we are organising a 90-minute side-event to present the findings of The Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health. The title of the session will be: “Trade and investment agreements: the threat to people’s health”. From 09:00 to 10:30 AM on 16th December.
About the event
The aim of the session is to assess the implications of trade and investment agreements for global health. It will be based largely on the report of the Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health to be published in The Lancet.
The report critically analyses the impact of trade and investment agreements (TIAs) on how people live and work, what they consume, and their health and social protection systems. Often TIAs favour the interests of large multinational corporations, which exert disproportionate influence on national negotiating positions.
Together with investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms, TIAs can undermine governments’ ability to pass laws and regulations that protect and promote public health. This requires a reform of how TIAs are negotiated, implemented and adjudicated to remove a range of power asymmetries.
Panel Members
Chair: Desmond McNEILL, University of Oslo, Leader of the Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health.
Malebona Precious MATSOSO, Director General, Department of Health of South Africa (to be confirmed)
Andrew MITCHELL, Melbourne Law School, Australia.
Prof. Ted SCHRECKER, Professor, Durham University
Dr. James X. ZHAN, Director of Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD
Sanya REID SMITH, Legal Advisor and Senior Researcher, Third World Network
Time
16th December 2015, 09:00 to 10: 30 AM.