WIDE |
WIDE
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WIDE members and international
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Report: EU trade policy dismisses
social and gender justice and undermines environmental
sustainability
Brussels, 21 March
2006 – The trade policy of the European Union is inconsistent
with social justice, gender justice and environmental sustainability, a new report
by Friends of the Earth Europe and Women in Development Europe (WIDE)
said today.
On the eve of a high level European Commission
conference on EU trade policy-making, the two organisations charged that
the EU is concerned only with establishing a trade regime which dismisses
questions of social justice, gender justice, the environment and
sustainable development.
The report analysed the EU position
at the World Trade Organisation’s 6th Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
in December 2005 and in ongoing negotiations.
Alexandra
Wandel, trade expert at Friends of the Earth Europe, said: “The EU
Commission is mistaken when assuming that an uncontrolled increase in
trade and opening markets for natural resources and services in developing
countries yields sustainable development.”
“Friends of the Earth
Europe and Women in Development Europe want the EU trade agenda to open
itself up to economic alternatives with the aim of transforming it into a
truly sustainable and just development agenda,” she added.
Barbara
Specht, WIDE Information Officer, said: “The current trade negotiations
are undertaken in a very opaque and undemocratic manner, and they serve
mainly the interests of the developed countries. Instead of putting
development at the heart of the WTO as stated in the Doha Declaration of
2001, the EU, the US and others are pushing developing countries to
further liberalise their agriculture, industrial goods and services
sectors.”
The new report highlights issues such as the selling-out
of natural resources under the WTO, the importance of people’s food
sovereignty, the gender dimension of the trade agenda and
biosafety.
Moreover it addresses WTO negotiations in the areas of
agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services and trade and
environment – taking into consideration the outcome of the ten year review
of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform of
Action (3), the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the United
Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. The report also includes an
assessment of the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting from gender
and environmental perspectives.
>>Download the report here.
A printed version of the hearing report
is available from the WIDE secretariat. Please contact
info(at)wide-network.org.
>>Read also the WIDE
analysis: A gender
perspective on the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference at Hong
Kong.
WIDE Annual Conference What The WIDE Annual Conference “What Its aim is to initiate a discussion The Conference will look critically at the failure (Further information can be found here) |
WIDE
News N°4/06
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WIDE and
the
WIDE Annual Conference 2005
Poverty, inequality and insecurity: What
answers does feminism have?
24-25 June 2005
Regents
College, London, UK
The WIDE
Annual Conference this year was a special and joyous occasion, for it
marked WIDE’s 20th anniversary. Twenty years ago WIDE was formed on the
eve of the third World Conference on Women held in
by that of the Southern feminist network DAWN (Development Alternatives
with Women for a New Era), which celebrated its 20th birthday in October
2004 in
Hosted in
London by the UK GAD Network (GADN) and attended by 150 participants from
six continents, the conference was entitled ‘Poverty, inequality, insecurity:
What solutions does feminism have?’ and focused on four subthemes: inequality,
international trade relations, peace and security, and sexual and
reproductive health and rights – all highly contested areas that shape
women’s chances of enjoying and exercising their full human
rights. The
conference used these themes to address the crucial issues for women and
gender equality: rights and power.
The conference was also the occasion for the launch of the WIDE–GADN manifesto. (The Conference Manifesto is also
available in Spanish.)
A summary of the
conference and all presentations can be read here.
A full conference report (8 Euro plus postage and
packing) can be ordered at
barbara(at)wide-network.org.
Women’s International Coalition for Economic The
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The EU corporate trade “Stop the EU’ Corporate Trade Published by: Seattle to To download click here. |
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