Brev till Thomas Östros och kommerskollegium angående WTO:s ministermöte i Hong Kong

1 Dec 2005:

TO TRADE MINISTERS ATTENDING THE SIXTH WTO

MINISTERIAL MEETING IN HONG KONG IN DECEMBER 2005

In this 10th anniversary year of the Beijing Platform for Action, 10th anniversary of the initiation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and 90th anniversary of the founding of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), WILPF women again challenge the ideology of trade “liberalisation” and argue that a more just and democratic trade system is essential in order to abolish poverty and achieve a fairer world.

When “The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade“, was established in 1948 by 23 industrialised countries the system was shaped to suit their needs. Since 1995 the WTO, under the name of trade “liberalisation,” has continued to shape the rules of international trade to suit the interests of the industrialised nations. Recent agreements such as those on free trade in services and intellectual property rights have been similarly bent towards the interests of the “developed” countries though the majority of the 150 or so current members are from nonindustrialised countries. Moreover, the more powerful nations have exerted and continue to exert pressure on “developing” countries to sign such trade agreements, even when the agreements contradict the socio-economic needs of their countries.

WILPF believes that such strong-armed trade “liberalisation” threatens the wellbeing of poor people, particularly women, and that the rights of women as stated in various covenants and conventions of the UN are consistently flouted by WTO rules. As a result, critical areas of concern outlined in the Beijing Platform for Action have not only been neglected but have grown more urgent in the wake of WTO policies. Such points of concern include the following:.

the increasing poverty of women, the inequality in economic structures, policies and access to resources,

human rights of women being ignored,

gender inequalities in management of natural resources and in safeguarding the environment.

WTO Ministerial Meeting2005

The WTO’s policy of trade “liberalisation” is also flawed insofar as it fails to recognize our world’s diversity, including diversity of gender, class, and ethnicity. Trade negotiations must consider the specific impact that trade policies have on such diverse groups.

Finally, we live in a world with resources that are adequate to satisfy all people’s needs. These resources must not be exploited to satisfy greed but must bepreserved to serve the basic needs of all people. In particular, the control of water must be community owned, not controlled by foreign investors. In other words, access to affordable and safe water must be recognized as a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold.

As the ministerial meeting of the WTO is about to begin, WILPF issues the following calls:

Most fundamentally, WILPF calls for a trading system which promotes wealth distribution enabling all to live in dignity with access to essential resources such as clean water, clean air, food, education and health care. This system must acknowledge the rights of all people to democratic decision -making; it must acknowledge the rights of workers; it must protect the environment.

WILPF rejects the idea that “the free market”, with rules largely determined by transnational and multinational corporations and international finance is the only model of economic globalisation and calls, instead, for an approach to global trade and development that better serves the needs of all social and cultural groups. Given the current economic disparities, trade rules must respond to needs of the world’s poorer nations and the current regulations and charges that disadvantage the poorer nations must be aborted.

WILPF agrees that there is a need for a rules-based system of trading but these rules must not favour corporations above people; the people should collectively determine the rules within and among nations; people, through democratic governments and international institutions, should have the power to define and enforce the limits of corporate authority, and the corporate form should have only those powers and privileges that people grant it.

WILPF calls for every agreement that has been made under the WTO to be revised to respect the fundamental rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the different covenants and conventions promoting and protecting human rights, women’s rights, labour rights health and education, and the environment, as well as the commitment made by governments to implement the plans of action resulting from the world conferences on environment and development, population and development, social development, and women and the human settlements (Habitat II).

WILPF calls for a thorough analysis , prior to implementation of the General Agreement on Trade and Services , of the social and environmental and all other consequences, particularly as they relate to women , who make up 70% of the world’s poor, and to children , and for this analysis to be made public.

WILPF continues to oppose any further liberalisation negotiations until all outstanding issues, including the impact of GATS , have been settled.

WILPF calls for international support to developing countries, to enable them to acquire appropriate technology for their industrial and other needs and which will help to prevent further damage to the environment. Such support must not be given in the form of advice for “experts,” for such experts too often are beholden to the interests of foreign investors and wealthy countries.

Since the special role of women as small scale farmers and traders, as carers of children and of the environment and as the majority of low paid workers is generally ignored, we call for special consideration to be given to their situation.

Trade negotiations must include representatives from working women whether working in the waged or unwaged economy. Women must have access to capital, to production resources and services on an equal basis with men; they must have equal land rights and equal access to training; there must be good education for women and girls to enable them to take up appointments and to be involved in policy-making.

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Swedish Section