Cecilia Olivet

Team member of Alternative Regionalisms

Maria Cecilia Olivet is Uruguayan, has a BA degree in International Relations from Universidad de la República in Uruguay and an MA in International Politics and East Asia from Warwick University, UK.

Areas of expertise:

Regionalism, with a particular emphasis on Latin America and East Asia interregional relations and European Free Trade Agreements, particularly with Latin America.

Languages spoken:

English; Spanish

Recent content by Cecilia Olivet

The Dark Side of Investment Agreements (16 Dec 2011)

Signing international investment treaties, in the hope of attracting foreign investments, has been a central strategy for governments looking to improve economic development. The less known side of this story is that by signing investment treaties, governments are giving away the sovereign right to regulate in the interest of people and the environment. They also expose themselves to the risk of spending millions in law suits that could have been used to serve public needs. It’s time that the dark side of investment is put under the spotlight.

Week of Action on Investment (13 Dec 2011)

In November 2011, Brussels was the stage for a 'Week of Action' which looked to expose the threat of Bilateral Investment Treaties to democratic governance and public interest and to advocate for an Alternative Investment Regime.

Time for Europe to put human rights above commercial advantage (17 Mar 2011)

Free trade or slave trade? How the EU's free trade agreements in Colombia and Peru reward human rights abuses, destroy livelihoods, promote land grabbing and strip governments of their sovereignty to regulate capital flows.

Towards an International Tribunal on Economic Crimes (11 Jul 2010)

"Voluntary" codes and corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches have repeatedly failed to tackle corporations' human rights abuses and environmental crimes.

Violations of peoples’ rights by European TNCs (10 Jul 2010)

European transnational corporations are praised as "engines" of Europe's growth economy, however extensive research on the activities of 25 flagship companies have revealed evidence of labour abuses, deforestation, corruption, and attacks on human rights defenders.

Integration of the Peoples (Video documentary) (5 Jun 2008)