|
|
|
| Sunday, 20 November 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Awareness campaign mooted :
WW reveals 'embedded journalists' by Gamini Warushamana
WTO Watch (WW) a new pressure group, has started a campaign against WTO's General Agreement of Trade in Service (GATS). The ministerial meeting of the WTO to be held from December 13-18 in Hong Kong, China is crucial and WW stressed the need for a wide awareness campaign in this regard. Following are the excerpts from speeches made by the Convener of WW, Dhamma Disanayake, journalist Mohan Samaranayake and Dileepa Witharana at a discussion held last week. Today's world media does not discuss the burning issues of the vast majority of the people, because the whole media industry of the world is controlled by seven organisations owned by the western super powers. These organisations serve the capitalist class and work on the agenda given by them. A similar scenario exists in the local media and most of the journalists are committed to carry out the hegemonies' view. These types of journalists are called "embedded journalists". This word is similar to "Paparasy" and it came into the vocabulary after the Iraq war. These journalists are reporting only the hegemonists' view of the world. This is a tragic situation because today the main source of knowledge is the media. WTO and its trade agendas should be discussed in depth because they affect billions of people in developing countries. Media has a great responsibility in this regard. People in developing countries struggle against some policies adopted by their governments without knowing the source of such policies. Recently, hundreds of university students marched against the privatisation of university education. They were charged with tear gas and assaulted by the police. But the students didn't know that the education policies are advocated by WTO. Education is one sector that can be open to international competition, and will have severe repercussions. Wandana Shiva, a popular anti-globalisation activist of India once said that the WTO is the God of the present world. It can recreate the world that God created. Western companies steal indigenous genes of Sri Lankan Kothala Himbutu or Indian Basmathi and get patent rights. WTO is a kind of organisation that rectified it. Though the WTO was born in 1995, its history dates back to the 1940s. After the second world war, the leadership of the world capitalism shifted from UK to USA. By that time, the USA had the world's strongest economy. After the 1917 Russian revolution the number of people who believed in communism was on the increase. The capitalists wanted a mechanism to control the world economy, financial system and trade. Born of the United Nations, Bretton Wood institutions namely IBRD or World Bank and the IMF were the result. The mission of the WB is to deal with economic development. The role of the IMF is to handle fiscal policy, exchange rates and the financial system. Another body called the International Trade Organisation was proposed to be established under UN supervision, but the USA opposed it. As an intermediate arrangement to deal with trade related matters in 1947, GATT was formed. GATT was not an organisation but an agreement, and there were eight rounds of GATT talks. The final round of the GATT talks was held in Uruguay. At the Uruguay round, countries agreed to form an organisation with more powers to deal with trade related matters, thus the WTO was born. The world that WTO proposes is totally different. If WTO proposals are implemented international trade would be foremost, while environment and human rights would be dominated by international trade. Under the WTO's GATS rules any of these matters are treated as barriers to international trade. GATS will fold the decision making rights of individual countries at national and regional level. Under the GATS rules one of 148 member countries of the WTO can challenge any policy decision taken by another at any administrative level, as a barrier to international trade. Accordingly, countries will have to withdraw decisions taken even at provincial council or urban council level or pay a fine after trial at an international court. WTO granted most favoured nation status only for 10 years from 1995 and the time has passed. Under GATS after opening a service sector, countries cannot give special concessions to local companies. The right not to open service sectors has been given, but in Article XIX this right is abolished. It says all developed countries are bound to a progressive level of liberalisation. All countries should meet periodically and at each meeting every country should go for a higher level of liberalisation. According to the Article XXI if a country realised that the opening of such service is harmful to the country it is irreversible, then it will have to pay compensation to all other 147 members. The Hong Kong ministerial meeting is crucial for all developing countries. But unfortunately our leaders, political parties or the general public is unaware about the threats of the GATS. There should be a wide discussion on the issue, and the government should make the people aware on how far the country opens our service sector to international competition. Sri Lanka should also actively participate in the struggle of other developing countries in movements such as G 20. To realise the threat of GATS this word of Vandana Shiva on the Indian government's decision to revise its drug and seed policies is enough. "On December 26, the day of the tsunami, the government of India introduced a Patent Ordinance which we named as the Tsunami Law, since it threatens to tear down the entire fabric of food security and health security we had built carefully and democratically since independence, by creating patent monopolies for seeds and medicines". ***** The World Trade Organisation Functions The WTO's overriding objective is to help trade flow smoothly, freely, fairly and predictably. It does this by: Administering trade agreements Acting as a forum for trade negotiations Settling trade disputes Reviewing national trade policies Structure The WTO has nearly 150 members, accounting for over 97% of world trade. Around 30 others are negotiating membership. Decisions are made by the entire membership. This is typically by consensus. A majority vote is also possible but it has never been used in the WTO, and was extremely rare under the WTO's predecessor, GATT. The WTO's agreements have been ratified in all members' parliaments. The WTO's top level decision-making body is the Ministerial Conference which meets at least once every two years. The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference was held in Canc£n, Mexico from September 10 to 14, 2003. Below this is the General Council (normally ambassadors and heads of delegation in Geneva, but sometimes officials sent from members' capitals) which meets several times a year in the Geneva headquarters. The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and the Dispute Settlement Body. At the next level, the Goods Council, Services Council and Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Council reports to the General Council. Numerous specialised committees, working groups and working parties deal with the individual agreements and other areas such as the environment, development, membership applications and regional trade agreements. Secretariat The WTO Secretariat, based in Geneva, has around 630 staff and is headed by a Director General. It does not have branch offices outside Geneva. Since decisions are taken by the members themselves, the Secretariat does not have the decision-making role that other international bureaucracies are given. The Secretariat's main duties are to supply technical support for the various councils and committees and the ministerial conferences, to provide technical assistance for developing countries, to analyse world trade, and to explain WTO affairs to the public and the media. The Secretariat also provides some forms of legal assistance in the dispute settlement process and advises governments wishing to become members of the WTO. The annual budget is roughly 169 million Swiss francs. Development and trade Over three quarters of WTO members are developing or least developed countries. All WTO agreements contain special provision for them, including longer time periods to implement agreements and commitments, measures to increase their trading opportunities, provisions requiring all WTO members to safeguard their trade interests, and support to help them build the infrastructure for WTO work, handle disputes, and implement technical standards. The 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha set out tasks, including negotiations, for a wide range of issues concerning developing countries. Some people call the new negotiations the Doha Development Round. Before that, in 1997, a high-level meeting on trade initiatives and technical assistance for least-developed countries resulted in an "integrated framework" involving six intergovernmental agencies, to help least-developed countries increase their ability to trade, and some additional preferential market access agreements. A WTO committee on trade and development, assisted by a subcommittee on least-developed countries, looks at developing countries' special needs. Its responsibility includes the implementation of the agreements, technical cooperation, and the increased participation of developing countries in the global trading system Courtesy: wto.org |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
