CIEL and other civil society groups launch campaign denouncing the lack of internal transparency in the run up to the WTO's 5th Ministerial Conference in Cancun

September 2003

CIEL and other civil society groups , including IATP, IGTN, Oxfam, PSI, TWN and WWF, call for fair, transparent, and participatory WTO negotiating processes.

The Center for International Environmental Law has signed onto a joint NGO letter directed to the Ambassadors at Missions in Geneva, Trade Ministers in capital, the WTO Director General, and the Chairs of the General Council and Trade Negotiations Committee. The letter calls for fair procedures during both the 5th Ministerial Conference in September and the current preparation phase. The preparation process is critical because Members will establish a draft text that will be the basis for negotiations among Ministers at the Cancun Conference. Under current practices, however, the draft text is largely controlled by a few Members who formulate it through unannounced, un-transparent meetings that exclude the majority - developing countries in particular. Consequently, most delegations will have very little time to analyze and comment on the text, and it is unclear whether even the revised draft text will reflect their views or comments.

In addition to the joint letter calling for reform, the collaborating NGOs have devised a memorandum detailing specific problems in WTO decision-making processes and outlining a series of concrete proposals for improvements.

The memorandum explains that the unfair and damaging rules in the WTO are largely due to the undemocratic practices in the system. This will not change - and possibly new damaging rules (such as the Singapore issues) will be added at Cancun - unless these undemocratic and manipulative processes are exposed.

Therefore, the signatories of the joint memorandum invite and encourage as many NGOs and CSOs as possible to endorse the message to add more strength to the public voice on this critical issue.

To do so please send an email message with your name and that of your organization to the Third World Network (TWN) at twngeneva@bluewin.ch.

Or you can send a message to CIEL or any of the other NGOs which prepared the memorandum. The names of the NGOs, their representatives and their email addresses can be found in the memorandum and by scrolling down.

As a result of the Memorandum, a small group of NGOs inititated the Cancun Democracy Challenge. It is hoped that the WTO member governments will address the Challenge. You can see the Challenge here.

The signatories also hope that civil society groups will strengthen their existing campaigns on the WTO by flagging the lack of fair, transparent and democratic processes.

Read the NGO letter, the full memorandum, or an executive summary. You can also view the current draft text that emerged from undemocratic processes.

For more information, please contact Marcos Orellana.

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NGO Signatories

Martin Khor
Third World Network
121-S Jalan Utama
Penang, Malaysia
Fax 60-4-2264505
twngeneva@bluewin.ch

Steve Porter
Center for International
Environmental Law
sporter@ciel.org

Celine Charveriat
Oxfam International
celine.charveriat@oxfaminternational.org

Hans Engelberts
Public Services International
Hans.Engelberts@world-psi.org

Aimee Gonzales
WWF International
agonzales@wwfint.org

Aileen Kwa
Focus on the Global South
aileenkwa@yahoo.com

Shefali Sharma, Alexandra Strickner
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
astrickner@iatp.org

Tetteh Hormeku
The Africa Trade Network
thormeku@twnafrica.org

Daniela Perez Gavidia
The International Gender and Trade Network
daniela.perez@igtn.org

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
The Tebtebba International Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Rights
tebtebba@skyinet.net