Trade Justice
It is claimed that globalisation and the international trade system offer developing countries an opportunity for economic development and poverty eradication. Yet, there is an increasing gap between these claims and global reality. Too frequently the trade system works in the favour of rich, powerful trading nations and large corporations, at the expense of the environment, democracy and the poorest people.
The primary goal of the trade system should be to achieve sustainability and poverty eradication. The Peru Support Group is a member of the Trade Justice Movement (TJM) a fast growing group of organisations including aid agencies, environment and human rights campaigns, fairtrade organisations, faith and consumer groups. The TJM believes that for this to change, trade should take place within a set of rules that protect the poor and vulnerable.
Most of the international trade rules are agreed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but although all 140 member countries, in theory, are equally responsible for decision making, poorer countries are unable to afford the cost of sending a representative. Some countries have 25 representatives while over half the least developed country members have none at all.
Many of these rules work against the poor. Developing countries are forced to open up their markets to foreign companies, often at the expense of their own producers, while rich countries can negotiate deals which protect their own producers from competition from developing countries.
Amongst other things the TJM calls for the following changes in the balance of the trading system, international trade rules and institutions:
- International agreements on trade regulating governments and companies must reflect the different levels of economic development of countries and not force 'equal' trade relations between unequal partners.
- For international trade policy to be legitimate and democratic, all countries must have equal access to negotiations, and have their concerns reflected in decision-making. There must also be adequate public scrutiny.
- Governments of developed countries have failed to practise what they preach on trade issues, erecting barriers against imports from developing countries while advocating free trade.
- A stated objective of trade policy is to improve standards of living. Governments have a goal of halving poverty by 2015, but this will not be achieved unless the poor get a greater share of the benefits from trade.
- Policies are necessary to protect the poorest countries from the burden of economic adjustment and to enable them to take advantage of market opportunities and work their way out of poverty. This requires public investment and the redistribution of assets.
- Trade agreements need to reflect environmental costs and respect principles established at the summit in Rio such as 'the polluter pays'
