WTO Comes
to its Senses as Seattle Talks Suspended
Seattle: 3 December 1999
In a dramatic conclusion
to four days of talks marked by demonstrations on the outside and divisions
on the inside, trade ministers failed to agree on a programme of action
for the World Trade Organisation's new round of negotiations. The eleventh
hour announcement came amidst outcries at the lack of transparency of the
process and the shambolic organization by the US hosts. Anger and frustration
were evident in equal measure among developing countries and many developed
country delegations. All were shocked at the lack of promised openness
and genuine inclusiveness of negotiations necessary to conclude a complex
and contentious text.
The suspension of talks
means a return to Geneva and a reassessment of the scope, content and process
of any future trade negotiations. The failure marks a victory for civil
society opponents of any rash expansion of the trade liberalization agenda
before considering current environmental and human rights impacts.
Malini Mehra, PDHRE director
said: ‘The collapse of the talks is a great opportunity for the WTO to
return to basics. Seattle has dealt a slap to the WTO and the organization
must fundamentally reform itself and reassert the centrality of its social
mission to bring benefits to its entire membership and the environment’.
She emphasized, ‘Human rights – civil, cultural, economic, social and political
– must form the core value system of the WTO and be its guide in the new
millennium. All WTO member states have legally binding obligations under
international human rights treaties and conventions. The WTO must aid governments
not constrain them in discharging their human rights commitments to their
citizens’.
For more information, please
contact:
Seattle Inn (Room 349)
tel: +1-206-728 7666
For more information, please contact PDHRE:
The People's Movement for Human Rights Education (PDHRE) / NY Office
Shulamith Koenig / Executive Director
526 West 111th Street, New York, NY 10025, USA
tel: +1 212.749-3156; fax: +1 212.666-6325
e-mail: pdhre@igc.org