For the past decades, the agreements brokered in the World Trade Organisation — regarding agriculture, services, among others — have created winning outcomes for developed countries and their corporations, and mostly losing outcomes for peoples in the global South. In response to the harmful effects of WTO agreements to people’s rights, movements galvanised against the WTO and have produced concrete effects in the negotiatons.

Today, peoples and their organisations face the rise of another threat that forwards the same trade and investment liberalisation agenda, through the various 21st century free trade agreements (FTAs). “Trade for the People” briefly covers how the new FTAs, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (both for the Asia-Pacific region) and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in Africa continue to threaten people’s rights. The video also describes the work of IBON International towards the goal of protecting people’s economic rights in trade and investment.