INFORM-ACTION
Issue
Number 39 - August
2001
Whose Trade
Organisation?
The
World Trade Organization (WTO) came into being in 1995 following
the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT itself was founded at the
same time as the World Bank and IMF. The Uruguary Round occurred
between 1986 and 1994 and the aim was to reduce trade restrictions
and to encourage free trade on a multinational basis. GATT
has been replaced by the WTO. The WTO is based in Geneva
and operates on an $US83 million budget with 500 staff. 142
countries are members of the WTO. According to its official
guide, the WTO will ensure that all countries in the world
benefit from its negotiations and agreements on global trade.
However,
there are many misgivings about the incredible power invested
in the WTO and much scepticism about its benefits to the Earth
Community and to developing countries in particular. Recent
anti-globalisation protests around the world have targeted
the WTO especially. There is concern that the WTO has power
to implement rules that governments cannot overrule - in other
words, it is a law unto itself! For example, the WTO is promoting
the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) which would
oversee international trade in services such as health, aged
care and education, including those provided by the public
sector. The GATS is worrying because it seeks to quarantine
trade in services from any government regulation including
social and environmental regulation and just let the market
rip! Its critics argue, with good reason, that GATS will erode
democracy and local governance.
|
The
WTO's Free Trade Logic - Which Defies Logic!
WTO rules
threaten millions with starvation by allowing agribusiness
companies to patent seeds created over generations
in villages around the world and then charge annual
fees for the subsistence farmers who developed the
seeds to have the right to plant them again.
|
The
big question is - Whose Trade Organisation is this really?
Learn
more about the WTO and GATS:
The
official WTO website
Public
Citizen's Global Trade Watch
Australian
Fair Trade and Investment Network
New
Internationalist, 334, May 2001 (an excellent edition
of the NI)
Recommended
reading:
The Silent Takeover by Noreena Hertz (William Heinneman,
2001) - can be borrowed from the SAO
YATZ it's the GATS by David Powell in QCOSS Bulletin,
August 2001
Newsletter Index
