Myra Nissen
Gene & Ellie Bluestein wrote:
>
> Dear WILPF-News-US correspondents:
>
> Here is the WTO Statement prepared by International WILPF's
> Globalization Committee for use as the WILPF.-wide position statement
> on the WTO. Branches and individual members may want to reformat it
> to copy for their use, and refer to it for writing letters to the
> editor, etc. We will bring several hundred copies of it on WILPF
> letterhead to the meeting in Seattle.
>
> Pax,
>
> Gillian Gilhool and
> Victoria Carter
>
> * * * * *
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> This statement was prepared by the Globalisation Committee of WILPF.
> This
> has been sent to World Trade organisation government missions in
> Geneva
> and other international institutions. This statement can be used by
> WILPF
> sections as part of their lobby work.
>
> Lohes Rajeswaran
> Geneva
>
> * * * * *
>
> Geneva, November 1999
>
> Statement by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to
> the
> Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization, Seattle,
> Washington, 30 November to 3 December 1999.
>
> The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF),
> founded in
> 1915 to work for world peace based on economic and social justice, on
> equity and on equality for all, calls on governments to resist
> entering
> into a new round of trade negotiations under the World Trade
> Organization
> (WTO) at the Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle, from 30 November
> to 3
> December 1999. We urge them to launch instead a thorough assessment
> of the
> impact the existing agreements under the WTO have on the development
> of
> developing countries and on the life of people and their environment
> everywhere.
>
> There is a need for regulating trade in order to respond to the needs
> of
> global development which benefits all peoples. But there is no place
> in
> this new millennium we are entering for consolidating instruments that
> help
> the rich dominate over the poor. Unless the WTO becomes transparent
> and
> accountable to the people and works for the promotion of trade
> arrangements
> that are fair and benefit the people around the globe, there is no
> room for
> this organization in our global village.
>
> Studies and reports issued by the United Nations and others show that
> the
> gap between the rich and poor countries, and between rich and poor
> citizens
> within countries, is widening. UNDP's 1999 Human Development Report
> (page
> 3), focusing on the effects of globalization, cites among other
> indicators
> the following:
>
> "By the late 1990s the fifth of the world's people living in the
> highest-income countries had:
> -- 86% of world GDP (the bottom fifth just 1 %)
> -- 82% of world export market (the bottom fifth just 1 %)
> -- The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in
> the
> four years to 1998, to more than $ 1 trillion."
>
> This widening disparity between rich and poor is causing social
> disintegration, violent conflicts and wars in all regions of the
> world.
>
> The WTO trade regime favours the powerful corporations and financial
> institutions whose interests are to maximize profits for themselves
> and not
> to improve the lives of the working people and their families.
>
> The big transnational corporations (TNCs) drive capitalist
> globalization,
> the process of consolidating wealth and power through trade
> liberalization,
> privatization and deregulation. The WTO negotiated trade agreements
> reinforce and accelerate the globalization process which aims to
> remove the
> obstacles to the global movement of capital and production of goods
> that
> have accumulated in the rich capitalist countries. In this process,
> developing countries and its citizens and the majority of citizens
> elsewhere are the losers.
>
> The WTO also severely undermines democratic local and global
> governance ,
> openness and accountability to the people all of which are basic to
> creating conditions for equitable sharing and stewardship of the
> world's
> riches.
>
> This increasing economic and social inequity is taking a particularly
> heavy
> toll on women. They provide the bulk of cheap labour in the free trade
>
> zones where they are employed in conditions of slavery and where the
> most
> basic labour and environmental standards are violated. The ensuing
> disastrous effects on their and their offsprings' health is a crime
> that
> needs redress. An ever larger number of women is driven into
> prostitution,
> sex trafficking and slavery by the abject poverty to which they are
> condemned.
>
> Food security of humankind is threatened by increasing consolidation
> of
> land for cash crops and the dominant power of chemical and biogenetic
> industries over crop cultivation. This is also negatively affecting
> the
> bio-diversity and ecosystem of the earth.
>
> These conditions are accelerated by the iniquitous trade agreements
> negotiated under the WTO.
>
> In summary, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
>
> --Opposes any further liberalization negotiations, especially those
> which
> would bring new areas under the WTO regime, such as investment,
> competition
> policy and government procurement. We also oppose the trade-related
> aspects
> of the intellectual property rights (TRIPS) agreement;
>
> --Calls for a comprehensive, in-depth review and assessment of the
> impact
> existing agreements under the WTO have on developing countries and
> peoples
> everywhere.
>
> --Demands that every agreement that has been made under the WTO 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 commitments made by
> governments to implement the plans of action resulting from the world
> conferences on environment and development, population and
> development,
> social development, women and the human settlements (Habitat II).
>
> Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
> International Secretariat
> 1, rue de Varembe
> C.P. 28
> 1211 Geneva 20
> Tel: +41 22 733 61 75
> Fax: +41 22 740 10 63
> http//www.wilpf.int.ch
>
> * * * * *
>
> WILPF in Washington
> 110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 102
> Washington, DC 20002
> 202-546-6727 phone
> 202-544-9613 fax
> www.wilpf.org