Cuba enjoys a very high prestige among progressive people
the world over because of its extensive public health system. This includes its contributions to developing
countries in training and supporting medical personnel in those countries.
Which makes it all the more disappointing that Cuba has joined
Honduras and the Dominican Republic as complainants against Australia in a case
taken to the World Trade Organisation by the Ukraine.
Ukraine’s complaint concerns “certain Australian laws and
regulations that impose trademark restrictions and other plain packaging
requirements on tobacco products and packaging”.
As an article in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review notes, “The complainant countries are
being supported by multinational tobacco companies”. Or perhaps that should be “The multinational
tobacco companies are being supported by the complainant countries”.
Australia is also being prosecuted by US tobacco giant
Philip Morris in a case before the courts in Hong Kong under an Investor-State
Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause. This
is a clause that allows a company to sue for damages in any country that enacts
legislation that impacts negatively on the company’s investments.
ISDS clauses clearly undermine the sovereignty of countries
which agree to them, giving corporations greater rights than independent
nations.
Worried by the Hong Kong precedent, the Labor government of
Australia stated in 2011 that it would not allow ISDS clauses in any new trade
agreements.
This is a significant and correct stance and comes as the US
is attempting to enmesh Australia and various other states in our region, as
well as several in Latin America, into a Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement
(TPPA), the terms of which are top secret.
What is known, and this only because of leaked documents, is
that the US is insisting on the inclusion of an ISDS clause in the TPPA.
Australian citizens only have until October to insist that
the TPPA be abandoned and that the Australian government maintain its
commitment to opposing any further ISDS clauses.
In the meantime, please contact the Cuban Embassy in
Australia, respectfully requesting that Cuba respect Australian sovereignty and
support our attempts to improve public health through plain packaging
requirements on tobacco products sold in this country.
Cuban Embassy: embajada@cubaus.net
…………….
For further reading;
New Zealanders also oppose the TPPA: http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/th_gallery/investor-state-dispute-settlement-isds/
Malaysian Health Minister opposes the TPPA: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/FTAs/info.service/2012/fta.info.234.htm
The Ukrainian case against Australia at the WTO: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds434_e.htm
On the related threat to Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme from the TPPA: http://phmoz.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Trans_Pacific_Partnership_Agreement:_Implications_for_public_health_regulation_and_access_to_medicines
