Join the AFL CIO, CARECEN, CASA, the Center for International Environmental Law, CISPES, Council of Canadians, Friends of the Earth, the Institute for Policy Studies, OXFAM America, Public Citizen, SHARE Foundation, Sierra Club, Sisters of Mercy, the Teamsters,  Washington Ethical Society, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and others to:

Tell the World Bank and the U.S. Government:
“END POVERTY — NOT DEMOCRACY”
“END WORLD BANK TRIBUNALS — NO FAST TRACK”

Inside the World Bank, a secret tribunal is getting ready to rule on a lawsuit by Pacific Rim/Oceana Gold – a Canadian/Australian mining company – that could force El Salvador to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars just for trying to protect its major river system from pollution from cyanide-based gold mining.

Under trade provisions promoted by the U.S. government, corporations can use tribunals at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to challenge national laws and regulations protecting public health, the environment and human rights. The Obama administration is trying to expand these corporate rights in new agreements with Asia (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and Europe (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), and is pushing to “Fast Track” these controversial deals through Congress.

WORLD BANK/ICSID TRIBUNALS UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD

Join us in telling the World Bank that poisoning of El Salvador’s drinking water will increase poverty, not eradicate it.

We will gather at noon , Thursday, March 19 in the park across from World Bank on H Street between 18th and 19th Streets NW.

There will be music, and speakers including:

• Vidalina Morales from the Salvadoran National Roundtable Against Mining
• Cathy Feingold of the AFL-CIO
• Sofia Vergara of Oxfam America,
• John Cavanagh of IPS,
• Lindolfo Carballo of CASA,
• Courtenay Lewis of the Sierra Club,
• Fray Fr. Jacek Orzechowski of St. Camillus Parish
• Bill Warren of Friends of the Earth,  and others.

For more recent information on the Pacific Rim vs El Salvador case, on investor-state dispute settlement, and on ICSID, see:

• New York Times – “When Corporations Sue Governments,” by Manuel Perez-Rocha
• Washington Post – Senator Elizabeth Warren, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose”
• Remembering the Tokyo “No” to ICSID 50 years later, by American University professor, Robin Broad
• Nassib Ziadé (deputy secretary-general of ICSID between 2007 and 2011 and acting secretary-general of ICSID between April 2008 and June 2009), says “ICSID is heading in wrong direction”

For more information on international solidarity supporting El Salvador’s struggle vs. mining go to www.stopesmining.org.