[asia-apec 1824] WTO Updates on Food First WEBSITE

[Anuradha Mittal]

Food First will provide daily updates from Doha, voicing opposition 
of the small family farmers and working poor around the world to the 
economic policies of the WTO.

Daily Doha Updates from Anuradha Mittal,Co Director of Food First:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wto2001/updates.html

General Information on the WTO meeting in Doha:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wto2001

Calendar of Action Events in the US and Worldwide:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wto2001/events.html

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Food First Joins Citizen's Groups Around the World
to Challenge WTO Meeting in Qatar

(Oakland, CA): In the run up to the 4th WTO Ministerial conference to be 
held in the Gulf State of Qatar from 9-13 November 2001, Food First/The 
Institute for Food and Development Policy is joining citizens groups 
around the world in calling for a week of action (5-13 November) to show 
how widespread the opposition is to the launch of a new round of WTO 
negotiations.

Powerful Northern countries in the WTO are trying to impose a new round 
of negotiations against the will of the majority of the other member 
governments and most citizen organizations around the world. The 
non-transparent process leading up to the meeting has caused enormous 
rifts between Southern countries and the North, threatening the collapse 
of the ministerial meeting. Food First deplores the WTO's
non-recognition of Southern countries concerns, and the arbitrary power 
wielded by the U.S. and Europe to force countries to change their 
positions and break up developing country coalitions.

The divisive agenda put forth in the draft declaration ignores Third
World concerns, which stem from the exclusion of issues like basic
social rights and needs; a ban on patent's on life and on life-saving
medicines; recognizing food as a basic human right; ensuring special and 
differential treatment of poor countries; and democratizing
decision-making.

"The tattered legitimacy of the WTO requires that they hold their
meeting in Qatar, a venue that severely restricts civil society access
and public participation," said Anuradha Mittal, Co-director of Food
First who will be attending the meeting as an accredited participant.
"The WTO claims global trade brings people together but with the
resounding protests of member nations including India, Nigeria, and
Brazil the reality is the opposite."

Growth of global corporations, promoted through trade agreements, has
accelerated the accumulation of wealth for some while most working poor 
have been left behind, and inequalities, both within and among nations, 
have grown.

"Those engaged in the process of international economic policy
formulation seek to create a firewall between economic policy and social 
policy," said Mittal. "The international social movement which has come 
together to challenge this Round will tear down that artificial firewall 
in order to build a world based on principles of justice and fairness."

Citizen groups throughout the world are organizing hundreds of events
during the week of the ministerial to show their support for the
concerns of the South. Actions are planned in many countries, including 
Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France,Germany, 
India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway,the 
Philippines, Qatar, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland, 
Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey.

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