U.S. Newswire | November 19, 2003
On Nov. 20, hundreds of demonstrators from across the United States will march in dolphin costumes with thousands of allies in opposition to the ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Eighth Ministerial Meeting and 16th Trade Negotiations Committee in Miami, Fla. The march will be preceded by a 12 p.m. rally at the Bayfront Amphitheater, 301 North Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Fla.
"FTAA negotiations must embrace, instead of eviscerate, protection of wildlife, their ecosystems, and the humane treatment of animals," said Ben White, special projects coordinator of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI). "No treaty organization should have the power to erase animal welfare laws enacted by democratically-elected governments."
FTAA would extend the "free trade" area created by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) throughout 34 countries in North, South, and Central America. These international trade agreements trump not only national and state law, but the US Constitution as well, putting in jeopardy decades of legislative protections for animals, workers, and the environment.
For example, American citizens, appalled by the killing of more than seven million dolphins in tuna nets, demanded dolphin protection and dolphin-deadly tuna was banned from the United States' market. However, U.S. law forbidding the import of tuna caught by ensnaring and killing dolphins in tuna nets has twice been ruled an illegal trade restriction. As a result, the U.S. weakened its dolphin protection law in 1997.
"Even before its official launch, FTAA's deleterious promotion of free trade rather than fair trade is uniting civil society and the caring people of the Earth," said Ben White.
The Animal Welfare Institute, a non-profit animal protection organization founded in 1951, advocates inclusion of animal welfare and endangered species protection in all trade negotiations.U.S. Newswire:
