The WTO finally acknowledges linkage between Human Rights and Trade: Rights & Democracy Responds to Pascal Lamy
HONG KONG - December 16, 2005 - Rights & Democracy welcomes the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy’s remarks acknowledging the links between human rights and trade. At the WTO’s Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong , Lamy called the disregard for human rights in trade negotiations “a recipe for trouble” and noted that a recognition of these links is “worth preparing and pushing for …”
Rights & Democracy and more than 50 other civil society organizations whose work focuses primarily on the human rights implications of international trade have formed an “NGO Human Rights Caucus”. The Caucus has called Mr. Lamy’s attention to an NGO joint statement urging governments to respect their human rights obligations in trade negotiations. Over 120 organizations across the globe have already endorsed the statement (www.dd-rd.ca).
The NGO Human Rights Caucus Statement urges WTO member states to honour their Doha commitment by making special and differential treatment for developing countries an integral part of the negotiations, by allowing the flexibility necessary for developing countries to protect the livelihoods of their poor, and by ensuring that all governments have the capacity to regulate in the public interest.
“Trade must be seen as a means to end, not an end in itself” said Jean Louis Roy, President of Rights & Democracy. “We have waited many years to have the WTO recognize that its negotiations and rules affect human rights around the world, particularly in poor countries. Mr. Lamy’s statement is a step forward for human rights. It is now time for the WTO to begin to seriously tackle those impacts and devise solutions rather than merely acknowledge that a linkage exists.”
As negotiations proceed in Hong Kong this weekend, the NGO Human Rights Caucus urges WTO members to uphold their human rights obligations under international law in all aspects of the negotiations and acknowledge that there is no true development without human rights.
Information about the Caucus, events organized by Caucus members and Rights & Democracy and the full text of the statement of the Human Rights Caucus with endorsement is available at www.dd-rd.ca.
Rights & Democracy is a Canadian institution with an international mandate. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1988, it is an independent organization that promotes, advocates and defends the democratic and human rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights, primarily in Developing countries.
Contacts:
Carole Samdup in Hong Kong , (cell) 852-6147-2258
Louis Moubarak in Montréal, 514-984-0622
For More Information
Please contact Steve Smith (ext 255) or Louis Moubarak (ext 261) at Rights & Democracy, 514-283-6073.
