CAFTA Built on Rotten Foundation of Kangaroo Courts
Sierra Times... ^ | July 14, 2005
U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) today called on fellow House Members to closely examine the system of settling all trade and immigration disputes under CAFTA, as a violation of American legal principles and a kangaroo court system stacked against the United States. In the event that Central American governments' understanding of CAFTA immigration provisions are different than what the Bush Administration is now telling Congress, it would be an international tribunal set up under CAFTA and staffed by a panel of three "judges" that would settle the dispute. CAFTA rules under Article 20.9 dictate that the tribunal consists of two Central Americans pitted against a single U.S. judge in all cases involving the United States.
CAFTA’s international tribunal would use international, not U.S. law, to judge whether existing federal, state or local U.S. policies had to be changed to conform with CAFTA’s 1000 pages of non-trade policy requirements. Failure to meet the CAFTA tribunal dictates would subject the U.S. to indefinite trade sanctions until the offending U.S. laws were overturned, under CAFTA Article 20.16.
Under the CAFTA international tribunal and law system, American citizens lose their due process right of appeal to the U.S. justice system, virtually eliminating American legal sovereignty over issues covered by the agreement.
Other CAFTA provisions seem designed to actually trigger later challenges before CAFTA tribunals. For instance, CAFTA creates a new “right” for services to be provided by "a national of a party in the Territory of another party" (CAFTA Article 11.14(c)) yet is silent on what visas would be used to allow such temporary entry - begging a challenge of any future U.S. denial of entry to workers from the CAFTA countries.
Norwood says the packed tribunals are the defining feature of CAFTA, loaded with conflicting language, the meaning of which CAFTA tribunals alone would be empowered to decide. "In some places, certain CAFTA provisions appear to safeguard American interests, but then a few paragraphs later a clause is included that directly conflicts and overturns what seem like safeguards,” says Norwood. "And then these kangaroo courts stacked against America determine which interpretation prevails, with no right of appeal. With this system of dispute resolution as the foundation of CAFTA, no amount of protections will ever be adequate to prevent Americans from being run over by unfair trade policies and open borders immigration."
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"CAFTA’s international tribunal would use international, not U.S. law, to judge whether existing federal, state or local U.S. policies had to be changed to conform with CAFTA’s 1000 pages of non-trade policy requirements. Failure to meet the CAFTA tribunal dictates would subject the U.S. to indefinite trade sanctions until the offending U.S. laws were overturned, under CAFTA Article 20.16."
It looks like the Treasury deparment is getting ready for the CAFTA to pass. They are trying to meet their obligations for lowering the cost of remittances to Guatemala, a CAFTA country. How much money do you think is going to go out as remittances, once the CAFTA passes?
To me, this is a clear indication that we are about to get hammered with illegal immigration from the CAFTA countries, because we all know that remittances from illegal immigrants is just one of the the WTO's way to redistribute our wealth to the LDCs.
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U.S. and Guatemala Launch Summit of the Americas Remittance Partnership
The U.S. Treasury Department and the Guatemalan government today announced the launch of a remittance partnership to facilitate the reduction of the cost of sending remittances and create an environment where their potential contribution to economic and financial-sector development is maximized.
"Our bilateral work will be focused on concrete actions designed to foster the realization of this commitment and will help create a template for future bilateral remittance work in the region," said U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. "This initiative will focus on fostering competition, efficiency and accessibility in the remittance market. Financial literacy programs, payment system modernization, and appropriate modifications to the regulatory environment are expected to be important elements of the work. We will aim to modernize the Guatemalan payment system while laying the groundwork for eventual harmonization with the U.S. system. Our governments will address relevant policy issues and seek to eliminate unnecessary regulatory obstacles to competition in the remittance market."
Guatemalan Vice-President Eduardo Stein and U.S. Ambassador John R. Hamilton will hold a press conference in Guatemala today to launch this initiative.
Guatemala has been selected as the first pilot country in this broad regional initiative. The Administration joined Western Hemisphere counterparts in committing to this goal at the Special Summit of the Americas in January of 2004 as an avenue to foster growth throughout the Hemisphere. The specific goal of the Summit of the Americas is to take concrete actions to create the conditions to bring down the cost of sending remittances by 50 percent by 2008.
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http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js2614.htm
Sounds serious; but thanks to the wonders of the info age we can check it our ourselves --it ain't in there. Article 20.9 doesn't cover a tribunal, it describes a Panel where the US can remove any member they want.. In fact, the only place I could find the word 'tribunal' shows up in the final text is
Article 8.3.1: Administration of Safeguard Proceedings:
Each Party shall entrust determinations of serious injury, or threat thereof, in safeguard proceedings under this Chapter to a competent investigating authority, subject to review by judicial or administrative tribunals, to the extent provided by domestic law. Negative injury determinations shall not be subject to modification, except by such review. The competent investigating authority empowered under domestic law to conduct such proceedings should be provided with the necessary resources to enable it to fulfill its duties.
There is no transfer of sovereignty in this treaty-- it don't work that way. International treaties are contracts between governments. CAFTA is a treaty so it can't supercede laws that spell out rights and legal limits for citizens. The only only collectivist attack on our freedom is from the big government protectionists who raise my taxes to control my wallet.