[asia-apec 1710] NGO statement for URGENT endorsement: Public Eye on Davos

[Kevin Yuk-shing Li]

Please circulate to NGOs only!

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: NGO statement for URGENT endorsement
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 12:16:21 +0100
From: Jolanda Piniel <davos at evb.ch>

Sorry for crossposting!

Dear friends,

The World Economic Forum will meet again in Davos/Switzerland from January,
25 to 30, 2001. For the second time, the Public Eye on Davos, an
international NGO campaign, will be on site in order to challenge the Davos
consensus on globalization processes. Please find below an NGO Statement
which the Public Eye on Davos would like to launch in Davos.

Please send your ENDORSEMENT, if you can,
to endorsement at evb.ch until 23 JANUARY at the latest (name, organization, 
country).
The statement will be published on 25 January. In the meantime, we ask you 
to not to make it public.

Thank you for your support.

Jolanda Piniel
Berne Declaration/The Public Eye on Davos

*********************************************************************

NGO Statement: the Public Eye on Davos

Once a year, the World Economic Forum (WEF), an association of the largest
private corporations worldwide, convenes for its annual meeting in Davos,
Switzerland. In addition to the WEF members, some of the most influential
politicians and representatives of international institutions will attend
the event.
Through its annual meeting, the WEF helps to enlarge and strengthen the
influence of the private sector on international politics. Past Forum
meetings have led to the launch of trade negotiations such as the Uruguay
Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) ­agreements which have caused social
inequality and environmental destruction.
Across the world, opposition against economic globalization is gaining
strength. This has been evidenced by the successful protests against the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) or the Millennium Round of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle. In 2000, thousands of people
demonstrated against economic globalization in Chiang Mai, Washington,
Prague, Melbourne and Nice. They expressed their disagreement with the
dominance of the corporate driven economic policies and called for democracy
and transparency in international economic decision-making.
Launched in 2000, the Public Eye on Davos will be present in Davos for the
second time. This joint campaign of several non-governmental organizations
(NGO) remonstrates against the influence which the private sector exerts on
international policies, and warns of its negative impact on the safeguarding
of human rights, social equity, democracy and the environment.
The Public Eye on Davos calls for the implemention of the following basic
rules by governments, international organizations and the private sector:
Concerning Global Governance:
· All governance structures on the national and international level must be
based on transparent, accountable and democratic principles. Discussions and
decisions which are relevant to the public at large should be held in fora
which abide by these principles.
Concerning Corporate Control:
* An intergovernmental agreement should impose high standards of
transparency and accountability on companies through binding rules.
Companies must be required to disclose the social and environmental impacts
of their activities in order to meet the needs of stakeholders - such as
local communities, customers and ethical investors - for fair,
accurate and relevant information. All stakeholders of companies - including
local communities and employees - should be granted legal rights to
challenge the activities of companies that threaten their interests. Such an
agreement should be enforced by national legislation and backed by
international law.
* International anti-trust law should be agreed in order to control
anti-competitive merger activity across, as well as within, countries.
* National and international tax laws must be tightened to ensure that
corporations pay fair taxes in all those countries in which they operate.
* Corporations which commit criminal offences must be open to prosecution
at both national and international levels.
* All these measures must be backed by strong and effective sanctions,
which might include expulsion from a particular national market, jail
sentences for accountable directors, suspension of stock-market listings,
removal of corporate charters or withdrawal of
financial privileges such as access to Government subsidies and export
credits.
Concerning International Financial Relations:
· There should be no further liberalization of the international financial
system and no pressure for liberalization on the national level. Specificly,
the proposed amendment of the IMF articles of agreement, according to which
the IMF would receive the right to enforce capital account liberalizations
in its member states, should not go ahead.
· Short-term financial flows should be taxed and regulated in order to
prevent further speculative attacks on national currencies.
· The multilateral development banks, the official export credit agencies
and the private banks should adopt binding policies in order to ensure that
their projects comply with international environmental, labour and human
rights standards. Governments should establish an overall framework for such
standards, e.g. as part of the Rio + 10 process.
· International financial institutions should be democratized and should be
made more accountable to all stakeholders.
Concerning International Trade Policies:
· Any trade agreements must respect international environmental and human
rights standards.
· No further trade liberalization measures should be carried pending an
independent investigation into the impacts of existing WTO agreements on
human rights, social equity and the environment. Such an examination should
have a special focus on the impact of international trade agreements on the
poor, especially women, children and indigenous peoples.
· No pressure should be put on poorer countries to open their markets, be it
by multilateral institutions or by bilateral agreements.
· The patenting of all living-forms, micro-organisms, plants, animals,
including all their parts, whether they are genes, gene sequences, cells,
cell lines, proteins or seeds, must not be allowed.
As long as economic policies are shaped in private elite gatherings like the
annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, the Public Eye will be on Davos.

The Public Eye on Davos is a joint project of the Berne Declaration
(coordination), the South American Network "Asociación Lationamericana de
Organizaciones de Promoción" (ALOP), Focus on the Global South, Friends of
the Earth International (and its Swiss affiliate Pro Natura), Genetic
Resources Action International (GRAIN), the Tebtebba Foundation, the World
Development Movement and the Network Women in Development Europe (WIDE).

*******************************************
Jolanda Piniel
Berne Declaration
Coordination "The Public Eye on Davos"
e-mail: davos at evb.ch
Tel. +41 1 277 70 06
Fax. +41 1 277 70 01
website: www.davos2001.ch; www.evb.ch



********************************************************************************************************
The Public Eye on Davos
Contact Address:
Berne Declaration
Quellenstrasse 25
P.O. Box 1327
CH- 8031 Zürich
Switzerland
Phone +41/1/277 70 06
Fax     +41/1/277 70 01
E-mail: davos at evb.ch
web:     http://www.davos2001.ch