PHA-Exchange> Food for a hindered thought

[Claudio]

Human Rights Reader 82

 

TRADE, GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

 

1. In a free-market world economy, Third World countries are not being given the benefits they and their economies need, but rather what-ideologically-motivated-Northern-trade-partners believe they should give them. Conversely, in the local economy, only those who have something to sell --and are not hindered in selling it (!)-- can earn anything from trade.

 

2. So, when trade rules threaten the right to food of the poor, those trade rules should be challenged on the basis of existing Human Rights Covenants. Therefore, states, independent human rights commissions and/or NGOs should undertake 'human rights (HR) impact assessments' of the trade rules the respective country abides by, both during the process of trade negotiations and after negotiations; such an assessment must be public and participatory so as to safeguard people's and communities' rights from the avariciousness of commercial interests and patent rights. (AIFO)

 

3. Often, human rights work also ends up calling for better governance. But this concept is interpreted to mean many different things. 

 

4. For the developed countries of the North, it means shaping states' policies worldwide so as to create the environments-most-favorable-to-the-opening-up-of-the-countries-of-the-South-to-globalized-free-markets! It means forcing the hand of these countries to adopt neo-liberal economic policies. The aim here is not really to foster greater democratic participation, but rather state-sponsored market deregulation.  

 

5. This being the case, one can justifiably ask: When creating such 'favorable' environments, has neo-liberalism been able to manage the crisis of the world system?  And the answer has to be a resounding NO. This latest stage of Capitalism has actually not yet shown it can curb the growth of impoverishment in large segments of both the Third and the First World.

 

6. By now, we all know neo-liberalism is not a development model, but a domination model! Period. 

So, we do not need this kind of moralizing rhetoric about good governance.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

7. As understood from a HR perspective, the hallmarks of good governance, are: democratic and impartial institutions; the diffusion of information to the public; transparency in decision-making; the participation of all actors; free and fair elections; efficient management of resources; expert competence in assessing situations; accountability; integrity; AND explicit respect for human (people's) rights. These hallmarks will be sought in vain as long as the structural obstacles that prevent the vast majority of countries of the world from exercising their right to development and to democracy are not removed. This fact leads committed HR workers to a very clear path of where the priorities lie. The crude reality of our times has simply led to levels of inequality beyond tolerance.

 

8. All this emphasizes what this Reader has said many times before, namely that, if the context and the framework of our development discourse are wrong, discussions and actions based on the wrong analyses will be like pouring water into a broken vessel; no amount of effort to fill it will be sufficient. 

 

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn

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Mostly taken from several Third World Network publications.
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