• IGTN calls on negotiators in Cancun to remove essential services from the GATS negotiations because they are critical to the work of social reproduction.
• Countries must maintain their sovereign right and responsibility to develop domestic regulations to protect the social common good, gender equality, environmental sustainability, financial stability and development goals.
• Ambiguities in the GATS, both legal and semantic, must be clarified. A clear definition of services is necessary in order to limit the scope of the agreement.
• The promotion of labor mobility (Mode 4) must comply with economic, social and human rights of workers from developing countries.

Long-range GATS Advocacy

• Renegotiate the GATS with an emphasis on protection of essential services, the strategic importance of key service industries to development and greater clarity in the content of the agreement.
• Situate the GATS within a human rights framework, including the right to development.
• Declare a moratorium on GATS negotiations until a development, social and gender impact assessment is completed (Article 19.3).

The following IGTN resources present an introduction to the debate surrounding Services in the WTO.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services: the Debate between the North and South

GATS

The Political Economy of Tourism Liberalization, Gender and the GATS

Additional resources are available in the IGTN Resource Library.