Stop WTO talks until everyone can take full part in them again
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is often seen as an institution in crisis, powerless and no longer relevant, and especially after US president Donald Trump decided in 2019 to pull the plug on one of the WTO’s most important bodies (the one dealing with trade disputes). Now, more than 150 civil society organisations, networks and interest groups from around the world have signed an urgent letter to WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, because they are seriously concerned about the state of affairs within the organization.
The WTO is most certainly relevant. A new round of negotiations was even planned to start in June 2020. When the meeting was cancelled because of the COVID-19pandemic, it was a relief especially to poorer member states, which are currently having to devote a disproportionate share of their scarce resources to combat the crisis.
Recently, however, it emerged that the richer member states of the WTO wanted the negotiations to go ahead, but online. That was bad news for the large group of poorer countries. Even in normal circumstances,these countries are at a disadvantage because they often lack the resources to take part in physical negotiations. It will be simply impossible for many of them to take part in online discussions.
This is the reason for the letter. The 150 signatories are concerned that those members who are able talk around the digital table will take insufficient account, if at all, of the interests of countries that are unable to play a full part in the negotiations. The letter calls for the WTO to postpone the negotiations until all members are able to participate in them fully.
As long as the WTO is making important decisions, that must occur in a decent and acceptable manner. Poor countries must not be excluded from the negotiations in any way. Both ENDS has been calling for greater attention to be paid to the interests of developing countries for many years and is bringing the concerns of civil society and local movements in these countries to the attention of delegations from the Dutch government and the European Commission to the WTO.
At this difficult time, there are issues on the agenda that are of great importance to poor people in developing countries. Talks should now be taking place on restricting subsidies to the fishing sector. That is a complex issue because, on the one hand, it is crucial that something is done about the over-fishing of the world’s oceans, and lowering or stopping subsidies would seem an obvious step to take. On the other hand, however, too few of the benefits of the fishery sector remain in poor countries, because they often do not have a developed industrial fishing sector.
Large groups of poor people in these countries depend on fishing for their livelihoods. Fishers and their families need support from their governments to hold their own against the large-scale international fishing industry, which is the major cause of over-fishing.
This is therefore a very important dossier, especially for the least developed countries in Africa and small island states in the Caribbean and Pacific regions. It must not be allowed to happen that these countries are unable to take part in negotiations that are vital to their survival. We therefore fully support this call to suspend the negotiations temporarily.
Update 30 april 2020:
Azevedo responded to the letter five days after it was sent, unprecedentedly fast for an organisation like the WTO. The contents of the response were, however, disappointing. What it comes down to is that the WTO wishes to continue with the negotiations, ignoring the objections.
Therefore, a new letter was sent, this time to all Ministers of Trade of WTO member countries, to call for a halt of negotiations. This new letter was signed by no less than
400 organisations, networks and groups from all over the world, and was made public today.
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Dossier /
Trade agreements
International trade agreements often have far-reaching consequences not only for the economy of a country, but also for people and the environment. It is primarily the most vulnerable groups who suffer most from these agreements.
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Press release / 29 juni 2020
Press release – Call by 265 organisations to the EU: “Do not sign the EU-Mercosur trade agreement”
Germany must use its influence as president of the EU in the second half of this year to ensure that the controversial EU-Mercosur free trade agreement is not signed. This is the message in a letter presented to German chancellor Angela Merkel today by 265 civil society and environmental organisations from the EU and Mercosur countries. The deal between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay will stimulate destruction of the natural environment and the violation of human rights in vulnerable areas in South America. The agreement will also give European farmers an unfair competitive advantage. Dutch signatories to the letter include Greenpeace and Both ENDS and various organisations united in the Handel Anders! coalition.
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Blog / 12 mei 2020
Post-corona economy: five recommendations for the Dutch government on achieving the SDGs and the goals of the climate agreement
By Daniëlle Hirsch and Maria van der Heijden
The social debate on the Netherlands' role in the global economic crisis is now in full swing. At the centre of the debate is the question: how can we compensate for the setbacks affecting the Dutch economy without losing sight of efforts to make international trade and production chains more sustainable? We – Both ENDS and MVO Nederland (CSR Netherlands) – are particularly concerned about what we hear in these discussions about human rights, climate and the environment. That these are 'luxury problems' which we have no time to address at this time of crisis. And this, while the Corona crisis is showing us just how closely our current economy is irrevocably intertwined with the pollution of the planet and is making people all around the world more and more vulnerable. In short, we have to make our economy more resilient to such shocks. And that means committing ourselves to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the goals of the Paris climate agreement. We therefore address ourselves first and foremost to the government.
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Event / 24 mei 2023, 16:00 - 17:30
The Future We See: economic systems
What does an economy look like that serves the well-being of people and the planet?
A wide range of great ideas about a transition to sustainable and just economic systems already exist, including ways to get there and examples that show that it is really possible. In this talkshow, we highlight some of these examples and hope to fuel the dialogue about this topic.
Inspired? Join our 'The Future We See' - talkshow on May 25th! You can either attend live or online, quietly listen or actively participate in the discussion. We hope to see you there!
Get your free tickets for the liveshow (limited!) or to join online here!
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Blog / 13 mei 2020
You can’t eat gold, copper and gas
You can't eat gold, copper and gas
"The virus is spreading quicker than the information" – that was the first we heard in the Netherlands about COVID-19 in many African countries and the measures they were taking to tackle it. While states of emergency were announced, borders were closed and we saw image after image of violent police and army responses, many people outside the big cities did not know that what was going on. When the situation became clearer, serious concerns arose about the consequences of the measures that had been taken: the informal economy coming to a standstill, food shortages and internal migration flows.
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Blog / 20 mei 2020
'Comfortably staying home with the family': three women in Latin American villages about the Covid-19 crisis
"The Covid-19 crisis is affecting everyone, but in different ways. In some countries, people are feeling the consequences less than in others, in cities the problems are completely different to in the countryside, and men are suffering from the restrictions totally differently to women. Some of the organisations that we work with in Latin America talked to rural women about the effects of the crisis on their everyday lives and what they are doing to keep their heads above water. Below is a small selection from these conversations (freely translated from Spanish) to give some idea of the situation women in remote areas are finding themselves in, of the enormous solidarity they are experiencing and of the solutions, which largely lie in stimulating local food production." - Danielle Hirsch
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Publication / 30 oktober 2023
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Letter / 26 juni 2023
Letter to EU governments on the GSP reform
CSO reject EU policy reform that would legalize EU trade sanctions against developing countries, based on their migration policies. An important trade and development policy tool of the EU is the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which allows developing countries to export goods to the EU at low or no tariffs. The current GSP Regulation is to expire end of this year.
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News / 18 april 2023
The Future We See - dialogues about sustainable and just global systems
In these uncertain times of accumulating national, international and global crises, we need hope and inspiration more than ever. Fortunately, many hopeful ideas and initiatives are already existing that show that it is indeed possible to change the world - and especially the systems behind it - in a sustainable and fair way. What opportunities are to be found, what is hopeful, what is already happening and how can we, as the Netherlands, respond to this?
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Event / 21 februari 2022, 16:00 - 17:30
Webinar and launch of new publication about EU-Mercosur
What is the EU-Mercosur association treaty and why is it controversial? What could be the implications of the treaty for people and their livelihoods both in EU and Mercosur countries? For more information about these and other issues, see our new publication and join our interactive webinar next week!
Register here
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News / 18 juni 2019
Open letter from more than 340 organisations: EU must stop negotiating treaty with South American countries.
Today, more than 340 organisations from both South America and Europe, including Both ENDS, have sent a joint open letter to European Union leaders calling for the EU to cease negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement. The organisations and their constituencies are seriously concerned about increasing violations of indigenous human rights and damage to nature and the environment in Brazil.
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Blog / 5 mei 2020
Freedom
Today the Netherlands is celebrating freedom. Our freedom goes further than living in peace. We have the freedom to discuss policy to our hearts’ content on, for example, ending the lockdown on television, in the press and on social media. We can do that freely because we know that our rights to freedom of expression are well protected. But how different that is in countries where authoritarian leaders are grasping the crisis as an excuse to throw these rights out with the trash and rule with an iron hand.
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Blog / 15 april 2020
Now is the time! Investing in a socially just and sustainable society
After Dutch Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra had brought the fury of the Southern European countries down on his head on 26 March by blocking the European emergency fund, the Dutch were suddenly 'small-minded and selfish‘ (Parool) and we should ‘go on holiday somewhere else‘ (RTL News). The tone was set. The difficulties encountered in making agreements on support at European level contrast sharply with the speed with which the welcome support measures for employers, entrepreneurs and companies had been announced in the Netherlands two weeks earlier. We have learned nothing from our own past, while everyone benefits from greater priority for solidarity.
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Blog / 13 april 2020
Invest International – a golden opportunity to green our trade relations
Since his previous government, prime minister Mark Rutte has wanted to create a green legacy with Invest-NL and Invest International, two new financial organisations. With the advent of the COVID-19 crisis, these organisations are more important than ever. Aiming to stimulate investment in sustainable and social projects, they will operate at a distance from the government so that they can act quickly and efficiently. With an initial budget of 2.5 billion euros, they will give financial support to companies active in sectors that the market avoids and which are at the heart of the transition. At Both ENDS, we see that as an essential step in closing the door for good on our old polluting lifestyle and putting sustainability at the centre of developments in the energy sector, in the organisation of our transport and mobility system, in how we produce our food and in the design of our cities.
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News / 19 mei 2020
Effective strategy to tackle COVID-19 calls for a global reset
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Blog / 16 april 2020
New faces are needed for a different future
In this time of crisis-driven reflection we can read telling analyses of past and present on all sides which are being translated into agendas for action. Many of the analyses address issues like inequality, climate, the financial sector, health care, education and women’s rights. They talk about ‘what’ and much less about ‘who’ or ‘how’.But a different future can only be built together with everyone, young and old, men and women. This future will not simply happen to us; we ourselves have a hand in it. It is time for new faces around the table, with new voices. It is time for a new future.
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Publication / 31 december 2020
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Event / 6 december 2021, 14:00 - 15:15
WEBINAR: EU's push for strong Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on seeds
The European Union's (EU) foreign trade policy has many implications for the sustainability of food systems in developing countries, heavily impacting farmers, breeders, and citizens. The unhidden promotion by the EU of strong intellectual property rights on plants affects food systems from its very basis, i.e., the seeds that are available for farmers to grow. Amongst these intellectual property rights, the main instrument that is advocated by European authorities is the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention, which provides exclusive rights to breeders over the propagating material of new plant varieties, while diminishing the rights of others to use the material for further breeding and hampering with the rights of farmers to freely save, use, exchange and sell their seeds.
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Blog / 10 december 2021
Vaccine apartheid is a violation of human rights
Pharmaceuticals hold on to their patents and (our) governments do not remove the barriers to free production that were raised under international trade agreements years ago.
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Blog / 16 februari 2021
The Netherlands can contribute much to making agriculture sustainable – nationally and internationally
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