resolution

Protecting Health Care, Labor, and Environment in Trade Negotiations

2016 Book of Resolutions, #4057

Since the time of the prophet Ezekiel (34:4), Scripture has clearly affirmed nations’ obligation to heal the sick and bind up the injured. In addition, Scripture has condemned the exploitation of the poor and those who use judicial systems to crush the needy (Proverbs 22:22-23).

Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) first negotiated in 1994, the concept of free trade has moved beyond the lowering of trade barriers at a country’s borders, focusing now on what are called “internal barriers to trade.” But what appear to trade interests to be barriers to trade are often laws and regulations passed by national, regional, and local legislatures to protect health care, labor, and the environment. Past WTO decisions have compromised Ontario’s ability to discourage the sale of alcoholic beverages, Guatemala’s ability to promote breast feeding in preference to use of infant formula, and Europe’s ability to support public health by restricting the sale of hormone-treated beef. In negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2014, the United States continued to promote provisions permitting tobacco companies to sue countries that legislate against tobacco marketing in the interest of public health. Under existing trade agreements, tobacco companies have sued Australia’s plain packaging law and Uruguay’s tobacco health warnings. The United Methodist Church supports economic development around the globe, but we insist that economic development be sustainable, safeguard human beings and the environment, support the health of workers and communities, and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable among us.

We call upon governments around the world to take steps to protect the right of legislatures at all levels—national, regional, and local—to safeguard the health care, environment, and labor of their citizens. In countries like the United States where “fast track” legislation permits Congress to only give a yes or no to new trade legislation, Congressional leaders must involve themselves more in the trade negotiations or be prepared to vote no to the entire trade package when it is presented.

We call upon the General Board of Church and Society to represent these concerns before the US Congress, the United Nations, and the WTO, and to assist United Methodists in all nations to seek attention of their own governments to health care, labor, and environmental issues when trade issues are negotiated.

ADOPTED 2004
READOPTED 2008 AMENDED AND READOPTED 2016
RESOLUTION #4057, 2008, 2012 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS
RESOLUTION #212, 2004 BOOK OF RESOLUTIONS

See Social Principles, ¶ 163I, J.

To purchase the Book of Resolutions, click here.