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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Human Rights Reader 124
(Sorry, the HRR I sent out last week was No. 123 and not No 124)<?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE WORLD
TRADE ORGANIZATION.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 2in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">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
</SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">China</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"> 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. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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).
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">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.
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Claudio Schuftan,
</SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ho Chi Minh
City</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><A href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Mostly
adapted from F&D, 42:1, March 2005, D+C, 32:5, May 2005, and D+C, 32:7, July
2005. </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>