Asia-Pacific

18 December 2017 - “We need a Global Compact on Migration that protects human rights and addresses the root causes of forced migration”. This is the message of Public Services International in commemoration of December 18 International Migrants Day.

With decisive role of social movements from around the world, meeting in Buenos Aires failed to reach consensus that would benefit the transnationals and harm the world population, especially the poorest.

According to the signatories of the letter, including PSI, the declaration “fails to address the adverse impact of WTO rules and instead appears to be designed to mask the failures of the WTO and its role in deepening inequality and exploitation”.

PSI was one of the organizations that drove the action. According to Jocelio Drummond, Regional Secretary of PSI Inter-America, "the main struggle is to prevent the WTO from expanding its area of action on new issues, for example, electronic commerce".

As delegates from United Nations Member States, international organisations, civil society organisations and various stakeholders gather in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for the Stocktaking Meeting to prepare for the negotiations for the UN Global Compact for Migration in 2018, the Trump Administration announces that the United States is pulling out of the process.

The Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights is being launched around the world on 7 December 2017 through online platforms and at tax justice events in Argentina and Chile. This launch coincides with the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, leading into UN Human Rights Day on 10 December. Your organisation is invited to join the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, Public Services International, Tax Justice Network, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and many other leading groups in supporting this declaration.

In an unprecedented action, the Argentinian government has revoked the accreditation for union and civil society representatives to the 11th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Buenos Aires, advising the WTO that the experts will not be allowed into the country. PSI does not accept such a blatant violation of well-established international norms and calls on the President of Argentina and the WTO Director-General to take immediate action.

PSI joins in solidarity with global civil society in calling for urgent action to address the human rights situation of enslaved African migrants in Libya, during the Stocktaking Meeting towards the UN Global Compact for Migration, 4-6 December 2017 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.