Archive - Signon Statement

Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), 345 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people from nearly every developing and developed country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), and the ATTAC European network. The letter was organized by the OWINFS network.

DECLARATION OF THE G20 COUNTER-SUMMIT
St Petersburg, 4 September 2013

Social movements and civil society organizations from different parts of the world have met on 3 -4 September 2013 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on the eve of the G20 Summit and in a context of the threat by the United States of America (USA) to attack Syria. With the participation of more than 30 international delegates of world social movements, our G20 Counter-Summit, was hosted by the Post-Globalization Initiative.

On 11th June 2013, the WTO TRIPS Council took a decision (IP/C/64) to extend for a further 8 years, the flexibility of least developed country (LDC) Members under Article 66.1 to not apply the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement except for Articles 3, 4 and 5 (which concern national treatment and most-favored nation treatment). This decision was a compromise deal as the EU and US exerted intense pressure on the LDCs to accept conditionalities that are not in favour of the people in the LDCs.

Global civil society groups write to Pascal Lamy, outgoing WTO Director General, to strongly object to the recently formed “WTO Panel on Defining the Future of Trade.” This panel, more than half of which is composed by representatives of the business sector, does not have the global legitimacy of the stakeholders – those who will be impacted by the future of trade negotiations within the WTO – to be able to propose a legitimate path forward for future WTO negotiations.

Global civil society groups urged WTO member countries to oppose the current Least Developed Countries (LDCs) accession package, and send it back for re-negotiation and improvement before it is accepted by the WTO membership.

Global civil society groups called on the G 20 governments to reject the discussion on further liberalization of trade in the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, in the meeting of the G20 in Mexico in June 2012. In a statement, civil society groups stated that, the G20 does not have legitimacy to decide the future of global trade governance since only a forum which includes all members, regardless of their economic power, can legitimately make decisions on major issues pertaining to the future of WTO negotiations.

As members of the Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) civil society network, we are writing to WTO members strongly object to the report, “The Future of Trade: The Challenges of Convergence,” written by the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in consultation with the panel composed by the Director General, Pascal Lamy, both in terms of the process, and the content of the analysis and recommendations contained therein.

Depuis le début de la crise financière et économique mondiale, la CNUCED a joué un important rôle en identifiant les causes majeures de ces crises, en apportant son assistance aux pays en développement dans la recherche des solutions aux impacts de ces crises et en plaidant pour une réforme de l’économie mondiale, des politiques financières et de la gouvernance afin d’éviter que des crises similaires ne se reproduisent. Il s’agit là des rôles clés qu'aucune autre institution multilatérale économique n’a remplis dans une logique de développement.

WTO Turnaround: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Development First - Call to Action!

October 2011

Dear G-20 Finance Ministers:

As you gather in Washington, D.C. to address pressing issues facing the global economy, we call on you to safeguard governments’ ability to implement policies that will reestablish and maintain financial stability in the wake of the worst financial and economic crisis in decades.