Back
Friends of the Earth play giant WTOpoly game outside WTO Building
"Next time, don't send the poor and the environment directly to jail!"
|
Geneva, 28 July - Today, Friends of the Earth International played a giant game of "WTOpoly" - based on the famous Monopoly - outside the WTO building in Geneva. Their game delivered a strong message to the WTO Council to research a whole new approach to multinational trading following the collapse of the Doha talks on Monday.
Sonja Meister, Trade Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said, "The time delay created by the failure of the Doha negotiations must be used to review the past negotiations and analyse the flaws in the WTO system as a whole. We need an entirely new approach based on democratic multilateral governance that actively promotes human rights and environmentally sustainable development" |
|
 |
The WTOpoly game demonstrates the flaws in the previous WTO system. Trade barriers such as environmental and social protections are banned from the game. Impoverished, developing countries, human rights and the environment are 'sent directly to jail' - the globalization trap. The winners of the game are transnational corporations who move around the world making money thanks to WTO policies, at the cost of the poor, the environment and human rights. The 'world's people' protest outside the game, but are completely ignored.
Friends of the Earth demands that, in the future, global trade rules should be subordinated to poverty eradication and global agreements on environmental protection and human rights. This was playfully illustrated by a revolution by the 'world's people' at the end of the WTOpoly game today. The actors playing 'human rights', 'the poor' and 'the environment' were liberated from the globalisation trap and given power.
Friends of the Earth insists that the interests of the largest and most powerful countries and their transnational companies have until now dominated the WTO's agenda. Furthermore, the WTO has so far failed to consider the disastrous global environmental impact of current negotiating proposals. This is in spite of the fact that there is increasing evidence elsewhere. For example, studies commissioned by the European Commission indicate that escalating international trade in natural resources is likely to damage global biodiversity and local economies. [1]
"The previous talks about the so-called 'Doha Development Agenda' were not about development. Recent studies showed that the trade liberalizing agenda was not working for the majority of people in developing countries," Ms Meister added. [2]
***
For more information, please contact:
-
Sonja Meister, Trade Campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe: Mobile: +41 76 201 63 75, email: sonja.meister@foeeurope.org
-
Lutz Weischer, Friends of the Earth Germany Youth: Mobile: +41 76 222 67 20, email: lutz.weischer@bundjugend.de
-
Aase Kristine Lundt, Friends of the Earth Norway Youth: Mobile: +41 76 233 2331
-
Rosemary Hall, Communications Officer at Friends of the Earth Europe: Direct line:+32 25 42 6105, Mobile: +32 485 930515, email: rosemary.hall@foeeurope.org
Notes:
[1] The European Commission-financed sustainability impact assessment on the forest sector, for example, demonstrates that there are likely to be significant and irreversible impacts on forests and biodiversity in 'biodiversity hotspot' countries such as Brazil, Indonesia, countries in the Congo Basin and Papua New Guinea. In addition, countries that currently protect their forest industries using trade measures can expect those industries to shrink and possibly collapse. Sustainability Impact Assessment of Proposed WTO Negotiations: Final Report for the Forest Sector Study, Marko Katila and Markku Simula, Savcor Indufor Oy, Finland, in association with the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, UK, with financial assistance from the Commission of the European Communities, 19 June 2005: http://www.sia-trade.org/wto/final%20report%20page.shtml
[2] A study by the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) released in March 2006 concluded that the World Bank's strategies on trade have not delivered on employment and poverty reduction. World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group Issues report Assessing Two Decades of Global Trade Programs, IEG, World Bank, Washington DC, 22 March 2006, www.worldbank.org/ieg/trade/docs/press_release_trade_evaluation.pdf
In addition, a 2006 study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace also suggests that the gains that have been predicted from world trade are likely to be much more modest than has been portrayed, with those countries particularly reliant on subsistence farming likely to be harmed. Winners and Losers: Impact of the Doha Round on Developing Countries, Sandra Polaski, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, 2006, http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/BWfinal.pdf
Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.
