The movement for feminist trade justice is long-standing and growing. Global South feminists have been ringing alarm bells for decades - providing meticulous analysis on the devastating impact of trade liberalization, privatization, and deregulation on poor and marginalized groups of women and demonstrating the inextricable link between the current global trade system, colonialism and imperialism. Whether in the streets, in the halls of government, or in international and multilateral spaces, feminist demands for a human rights-based, transparent and accountable trade system can no longer be ignored. In fact, as the Covid-19 pandemic lays bare, they are now more urgent than ever.

This session explores how the United Nations (UN) human rights system and other UN spaces can be used as a strategic tool by feminists and civil society to demand trade justice and support diverse advocacy actions - including in these times of mostly virtual gatherings. We view this as part of a larger conversation and movement of reclaiming the UN and multilateralism in the service of global solidarity, people, and planet.

Speakers:
- Chee Yoke Ling, Director of Third World Network
- Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Constanza Pauchulo, Programme Officer, International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
- Kate Donald, Director of Human Rights in Economic and Social Policy Program at the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
- Alejandra Scampini, Senior Policy Associate, Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER) and member of Feminists for a Binding Treaty (F4BT)

Moderator: Priti Darooka, Executive Director, Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR) and Founding Member of BRICS Feminist Watch

Suggested Background Materials:
- Center for Economic and Social Rights, Recovering Rights Series: Governments’ Obligation to Invest ‘Maximum Available Resources’ in Human Rights (2020) https://www.cesr.org/covid-19-recovering-rights-series-0
- Alejandra Scampini and Corina Rodriguez, It is Time to Dispute the New Normal: Elements for the Way Forward from a Feminist Perspective (2020) https://cld.bz/I6USLya/8/#zoom=z
- Alejandra Scampini and Fernand Hopenhaym, PODER, Corporate Abuse is a Feminist Issue (2019) https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/corporate-abuse-feminist-issue/
- Ranja Sengupta, Third World Network, Addressing Gender and Trade Issues in Trade Agreements: Creating more problems than solutions? (2018) https://dawnnet.org/publication/addressing-gender-and-trade-issues-in-trade-agreements-creating-more-problems-than-solutions/
- Action Aid UK, From Rhetoric to Rights: Towards Gender-Just Trade (2018) https://www.actionaid.org.uk/publications/from-rhetoric-to-rights-towards-gender-just-trade
- IWRAW Asia Pacific, Corporate Power and the Space for Women's Human Rights Activism (2017) https://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/corporate-power-and-the-space-for-womens-human-rights-activism/
- ESCR-Net and IWRAW Asia Pacific, Participation in ICESCR and CEDAW Reporting Processes: Guidelines for Writing on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Shadow/Alternative Reports (2010) https://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/participation-in-icescr-and-cedaw-reporting-processes-guidelines-for-writing-on-womens-economic-social-and-cultural-rights-in-shadow-alternative-reports/