Rally: End ICSID and Stop Fast Track Trade Deal

Join the AFL CIO, CARECEN, CASA, the Center for International Environmental Law, CISPES, Council of Canadians, Friends of the Earth, the Institute for Policy Studies, OXFAM America, Public Citizen, SHARE Foundation, Sierra Club, Sisters of Mercy, the Teamsters,  Washington Ethical Society, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and others to:

Tell the World Bank and the U.S. government: “END POVERTY — NOT DEMOCRACY … END WORLD BANK TRIBUNALS — NO FAST TRACK”

Inside the World Bank, a secret tribunal is getting ready to rule on a lawsuit by Pacific Rim/Oceana Gold – a Canadian/Australian mining company – that could force El Salvador to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars just for trying to protect its major river system from pollution from cyanide-based gold mining.

Under trade provisions promoted by the U.S. government, corporations can use tribunals at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to challenge national laws and regulations protecting public health, the environment and human rights. The Obama administration is trying to expand these corporate rights in new agreements with Asia (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and Europe (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), and is pushing to “Fast Track” these controversial deals through Congress.

WORLD BANK/ICSID TRIBUNALS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD

Join us in telling the World Bank that poisoning of El Salvador’s drinking water will increase poverty, not eradicate it.

We will gather at noon, Thursday, March 19 in the park across from World Bank on H Street between 18th and 19th Streets NW.

There will be music, and speakers including:

Vidalina Morales from the Salvadoran National Roundtable Against Mining

Cathy Feingold of the AFL-CIO

Sofia Vergara of Oxfam America

John Cavanagh of IPS

Lindolfo Carballo of CASA

Courtenay Lewis of the Sierra Club

Fray Fr. Jacek Orzechowski of St. Camillus Parish

Bill Warren of Friends of the Earth,  and others.

For more information, visit the Institute for Policy Studies’ website.