PHA-Exchange> Food for a not fairly treated thought

[Claudio]

Human Rights Reader 124 (Sorry, the HRR I sent out last week was No. 123 and not No 124)

 

HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION.

 

Oblivious to the teachings of history, international free trade is being promoted to the rank of 'development motor' as if development would be the same as preparing the population for the market economy. (CETIM)

 

1. The WTO is driven by a mercantilist philosophy; the focus of what it does is not on the welfare or growth prospects of members. Small, poor countries have little to offer and to gain in the mercantilist WTO exchange. The multilateral-trade-liberalization-drive championed by the WTO has been mainly driven by corporate interests seeking access to foreign markets; the WTO, therefore, is a good vehicle for advancing their interests. 

 

2. It is not that industrial countries need the WTO; their firms can and do obtain access to new markets directly. In fact, the private sector has often concluded that the multilateral system may be good, but is ineffective, so, they use non-governmental routes. 

 

3. On the other hand, it has been estimated that, if all (that is ALL) global trade barriers to poor countries were eliminated, approximately 500 million people could be lifted out of hunger and poverty over 15 years. (Keep in mind that, if China is excluded, the number of hungry people has actually increased in the last decade. This, despite the right to food being enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and in the International Pact of 1966. 

 

4. Eradicating protectionist barriers may be one of the best ways to put food on the tables of poor people. Protectionism results in higher domestic food prices which mostly hurt poor consumers as they spend proportionately more of their income on food --and chronic food insecurity comes mainly from insufficient purchasing power of the poor. The main determinant of undernutrition is thus low income. 

 

5. As a Human Rights challenge, it is, consequently, more important to advocate for raising income of poor persons than for food self-sufficiency, i.e., raising rural incomes is more important than increasing food production. So, the right to fair social and economic conditions is necessary to allow people to feed themselves (FAO). 

 

6. In addition, and as related, keep in mind that if the debt burden of poor countries were significantly reduced or eliminated as their terms of trade were made fairer, the amount of aid required would also significantly diminish. 

 

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn

Mostly adapted from F&D, 42:1, March 2005, D+C, 32:5, May 2005, and D+C, 32:7, July 2005. 
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