[E-rundbrief] Info 1278 - Movements against Bali WTO-deal

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1278 - Social Movements for an Alternative Asia 
(SMAA), Gerak Lawan and La Via Campesina: The WTO pushes through bad 
deal in the final hours; Developed countries and TNCs are the big winners.

Bad Ischl, 9.12.2013

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

================================================

The WTO pushes through bad deal in the final hours; Developed 
countries and TNCs are the big winners

Press release of Social Movements for an Alternative Asia (SMAA), 
Gerak Lawan and La Via Campesina

http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/actions-and-events-mainmenu-26/10-years-of-wto-is-enough-mainmenu-35/1540-the-wto-pushes-through-bad-deal-in-the-final-hours-developed-countries-and-tncs-are-the-big-winners

  (Bali, December 7, 2013) The 9th Ministerial Conference of the World 
Trade Organization (WTO) pushed through a Bali Package in the final 
hours, extending the Conference to December 7, but at the cost of the 
developing countries, the poor and the hungry.

Facilitating Trade for TNCs

Hailed as a victory by the WTO for unlocking the deadlocked 
negotiations, the Bali Package delivers a legally binding agreement on 
Trade Facilitation that is costly to developing countries and ensures 
easier access and profits for Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Trade 
Facilitation, or the easing of customs procedures and borders, clearly 
benefits only the big TNCs that already control exports and imports. 
As the 2013 World Trade Report data shows, “80% of US exports are 
handled by 1% of large exporters, 85% of European exports are in the 
hands of 10% of big exporters and 81% of exports are concentrated in 
the top 5 largest exporting firms in developing countries.”

Added to this, is the hypocrisy that this Trade Facilitation deal will 
open borders in all Member countries except Cuba, as it does not 
effectively cancel the 60-year long US blockade against the Cuba. The 
reference to the non-discrimination principle of Article V of the GATT 
1994 remains pure rhetoric as it is stated in the Declaration and not 
in the text of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Peace Clause that jeopardizes the Right to Food

In exchange for the costly, legally binding agreement on Trade 
Facilitation, developing countries received nothing.

     There is a very bad peace clause that violates the right to food 
and jeopardizes the right to food sovereignty as it places numerous 
restrictions on the ability of developing countries to give support to 
their small farmers and poor constituents.
     The peace clause only applies to existing public stockholding for 
food security programs that exceed the Aggregate Measurement of 
Support (AMS) or de minimis, as of the date of the decision, 
effectively meaning that only India can apply it and that no future 
food security programs of developing countries will be allowed.
     There is a promise of a permanent solution but subject to future 
negotiations during the next 4 years. What that permanent solution 
will be is an uncertainty.
     Most importantly, developing countries will have to accept their 
guilt in violating WTO rules before they can apply the peace clause.

Finally, this peace clause is nonsense simply because no country 
should have to beg for the right to guarantee the right to food. Food 
and agriculture should never have been included in the WTO in the 
first place.

Old, Unfulfilled and Failed Promises

The issue of Export Subsidies remains a promise. It was already 
promised in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration that all export 
subsidies will be eliminated by 2013. Today, in the Bali Package, 
there is again only a rhetorical promise that "export competition 
remains a priority issue for the post-Bali work programme."

In Cotton, a long-standing demand of African countries, also a promise 
in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration that never got implemented. 
Today, in the Bali Package the promise is to have "dedicated 
discussions" post-Bali.

The Bali Package has a Least Developed Countries (LDC) Package but 
with nothing substantial or meaningful. The special and differential 
treatment and monitoring mechanism are old unfulfilled promises that 
remain a declaration today.

In summary, the Bali Package delivers a legally binding text on Trade 
Facilitation, a very bad peace clause on food security that 
jeopardizes our right to food sovereignty, empty declarations and 
promises on long-standing developing country demands on export 
subsidies, cotton and the LDC issues.

We call for an End to the WTO; We demand Economic Justice

The WTO has once again shown that it is an organization for the 
developed countries and the TNCs, pushing free trade rules that only 
benefit the rich and concentrate even more wealth in the hands of a 
few. It has not and never will deliver development for the people.

The WTO is a failed and delegitimized institution that is desperately 
trying to revive itself with a Bali Package at the high cost of food 
sovereignty, livelihoods, jobs, and the future of the people.

We reiterate our call for an End to the WTO and the tyranny of the 
free trade regime. We redouble our efforts in fighting the system and 
pushing for the peoples’ alternatives. We will continue our struggle 
to achieve a world without the WTO and free trade agreements and in 
its place have an Economy for Life...

Members of Gerak Lawan: (Gerakan Rakyat Lawan 
Neokolonialisme-Imperialisme)

Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ) - Bina Desa - Serikat Petani 
Indonesia (SPI) - Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) - Aliansi Petani 
Indonesia (API) - Indonesian Human Right Committee for Social Justice 
(IHCS) - Komisi untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Kekerasan (KONTRAS) - 
Climate Society Forum (CSF) - Koalisi Anti Utang (KAU) - Koalisi 
Rakyat untuk Keadilan Perikanan (KIARA) - Institut Hijau Indonesia 
(IHI) - Lingkar Madani untuk Indonesia (LIMA) - Jaringan Advokasi 
Tambang (JATAM) - Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI Jakarta) - Front 
Perjuangan Pemuda Indonesia (FPPI) - Lingkar Studi-Aksi untuk 
Demokrasi Indonesia (LS-ADI) - Serikat Nelayan Indonesia (SNI) - 
Kesatuan Nelayan Tradisional Indonesia (KNTI) - Serikat Buruh 
Indonesia (SBI) - Asosiasi Pendamping Perempuan Usaha Kecil (ASPPUK) - 
Perhimpunan Bantuan Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia Indonesia (PBHI) - 
Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia (Dosen Hubungan Internasional) - 
Asosiasi Ekonomi-Politik Indonesia (AEPI) - Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak 
Atas Air (KRuHA) - Aliansi Pemuda Pekerja Indonesia (APPI) - Migrant Care

Convenors of Social Movements for an Alternative Asia:

Alliance of Progressive Labor, Philippines, All Nepal's Peasants' 
Federation, Assembly of the Poor, Thailand, ATTAC Japan, Bangladesh 
Krishok Federation, Bangladesh Kishani Sabha, Bhartiya Kisan Union, 
India, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW-AP), Focus on the 
Global South, FTA Watch Thailand, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade 
Unions (HKCTU), Indonesia for Global Justice, Indonesian Political 
Economy Association (AEPI), Koalisi Anti Utang (KAU), Indonesia, 
Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Karnataka 
Rajya Raitha Sangha, Karnataka, India, Kerela Coconut Farmers 
Association, Kerela, India, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions 
(KCTU), La Via Campesina, Migrant Forum in Asia, MONLAR, Sri Lanka, 
Northern Peasants Federation, Thailand, NOUMINREN, Japan, Peoples 
Coalition for the Right to Water, Indonesia (KRuHA), Serikat Petani 
Indonesia (SPI), South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers 
Movements (SICCFM), World March of Women-Philippines

ENDWTO ALLIES

FairWatch Italy, ATTAC France, SENTRO-Philippines, Ecologistas en 
Accion, Spain, World Development Movement, Transnational Institute, 
Polaris Institute, Freedom from Debt Coalition Philippines, People's 
Action for Change Cambodia, War on Want, Alternative Development 
Information Centre South Africa, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, 
Popular Resistance, Sumpay Mindanao, Kilusang Maralita sa Kanayunan 
(KILOS KA), Migrants Rights International


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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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