Country Watch
economic sanctions on Russia, has had a very limited deterrent effect and a minimal impact on Russia’s economy. International support for the sanctions also wavered with the Italian foreign minister suggesting that attention be shifted from sanctions to meaningful engagement with Ukraine and Russia to ensure the smooth prog- ress of democratic elections there. Sanctions, however, did little to stop human rights abuses in the region.
In light of this nebulous state of affairs coupled with regular reports of human rights abuses in the region, the UN decided to deploy a Human Rights Monitoring Mission. Coordinated by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, the Mission covered the period from April 2 to May 6 and reported a “wave of abductions and unlawful detentions” of journalists in the region along with an “atmosphere of intimidation and discrimina- tion” with a view to coerce citizens into accept- ing Russian annexation and citizenship. The report identified the following necessary pre-requisites to human rights protection in the conflict: rule of law, law enforcement sector reform, protection of the freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, right to life, liberty and security, political rights and, finally, minority rights. With the progress of both the Monitoring Mission and the conflict, the tension and fighting shifted from Crimea to the eastern Ukrainian province of Do- netsk and cities such as Luhansk. Apart from the generic human rights challenges, the report of the Mission also identified economic and social rights as a specific issue that threaten the east of the country. Therefore, it is clear that the hu- man rights threat in Ukraine spans a broad area as identified by the UN.
Meeting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, Euro- pean and American heads of state are contem- plating the nature of their response to Russia. On September 5, 2014, Russia and the separatists signed a ceasefire agreement. Intermittent fight- ing, however, has continued. Negotiations are
currently ongoing regarding the creation of a buf- fer zone.
* Submitted by Sanya Samtani
Trade Agreement Negotiations Concluded Between the European Union and Ecuador
According to the European Commission Press release of July 17, 2014, the European Union (EU) and Ecuador have concluded negotiations regard- ing a trade agreement which could allow an in- crease of $500 million USD in Ecuadorian exports to the EU over the next three years. The trade agreement is subject to approval in the European Parliament and Ecuador’s National Assembly.
Currently, Ecuador has trade benefits under the EU General System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) system. There are many different preferential tar- iff systems utilized around the world. One of the most generous being the Everything But Arms (EBA) system. The EBA regime grants 99 percent of tariff lines exclusive of arms and ammunition, covering almost all products allowing for duty free access to the EU market. The EBA is differ- entiated from the GSP and GSP+ systems which only cover approximately 66 percent of products in the EU customs tariff code.
The main advantage that GSP+ has to offer is improved access, duty-free to a large extent, as compared with the general GSP scheme. Nev- ertheless, those GSP products, which become competitive and do not require support to access the EU market, can lose their preferential treat- ment. This process is known as being graduated. Graduation in the GSP+ countries cannot take place due to the lack of a diversified products base as well as the vulnerability of these coun- tries.
Ecuador has been assessed as an upper income country by the World Bank for three years in a row. Ecuador will lose its preferential rights under the GSP+ on January 1, 2015.
ILSA Quarterly » volume 23 » issue 1 » October 2014
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