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Editor’s
Note
Kyoto
Protocol, US Stance and Implications
The
US rejection of Kyoto Protocol brought back into focus the crucial issue
of climate change. US President George W. Bush, Jr. said that it exempts
80 percent of the world, including major population centres such as China
and India from compliance and would cause serious harm to the US economy.
If the US economy was the main concern behind
rejecting the Kyoto Protocol, then the US should have no moral right to
enforce core labour standards on the third world countries. Many
developing countries are opposed to the inclusion of labour standards in
trade agreements. If ratifying Kyoto protocol can hurt the US economy,
similarly linking trade with labour standards will also adversely affect
the third world’s economy.
In case of environment it is not necessary that
with growth environmental problems are taken care of through the trade
route. Most of the environmental problems are associated with affluent
life style and inconsiderate consumption patterns. But the case with
labour standards is opposite. It is directly linked to growth and
development. This is quite evident, as in most of the developed countries
labour standards are relatively better.
Now with the US out of Kyoto Protocol, the ball is
in the court of EU and Japan. The EU’s role is central in getting the
Kyoto Protocol into force without the US. Japan also assumes a position of
critical importance. Japan will have to think on independent lines. They
must start thinking about ratifying the Kyoto Protocol without the
Americans. Japan has long wanted its international weight to be more
commensurate with its huge economic strength. It seems that Japan’s hour
has come.
But in the diplomatic circle the EU needs to deepen
its efforts to develop a plan with Russia and Japan for the protocol’s
entry into force in an environmentally sound way. The US has played hard
ball on the Kyoto Protocol. The onus is now on the EU and its next move
will decide the contours of the game.
Pradeep
S. Mehta, Editor
News
Roundup
ASEAN Ministers Defend Myanmar
Ministers
from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) not to punish Myanmar over forced
labour, saying that the country was doing all it could to stamp out the
practice by issuing directives and taking legislative action.
“We hope
the ILO will view these actions positively and support the Myanmar
government in resolving this problem and will not subject its people to
any punitive action,” said the Malaysian Resource Minister Fong Chan Onn.
Last
November, the ILO called on its members to review relations with Myanmar
to ensure that these ties did not help to extend the practice of forced
labour. The Ministers also rejected calls for linking labour standards to
trade. According to Onn, “linking the two together would impose a burden
on some of the other countries who are still not in a position to comply.”
Bulgaria: Children Start Work at Early Age
A recent
study has revealed that over six percent of children aged 5-17 are working
in Bulgaria. According to the report by the Sociology Department of the
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, children are most widely exploited in the
country’s agricultural sector, as well in services like restaurants and
shops.
In all some
83,000 children are working, 94 percent of them without a contract. Some
418,000 peasant children work on farm, while 54 percent of family
businesses employ children. Some 5.4 percent are involved in manual
labour, according to the report. Under the Bulgarian law, children can
only be employed with the approval of the labour ministry, but this
requirement is widely ignored.
Bush’s Trade Agenda Includes Labour and Environment ‘Toolbox’
President
George W. Bush, Jr. acknowledged that addressing trade-related labour and
environmental concerns is an important part of the US Trade Agenda. But
there is no mention of using sanctions, fines or other measures to enforce
labour or environmental safeguards.
To this
end, it includes an illustrative ‘toolbox’ of actions that the US can
take in combination with trade negotiations to deal with these concerns.
Actions include improving United Nations Environmental Programme, or
discussions in the WTO’s trade policy reviews on how countries could
have reinforce their trade and environmental policies. The toolbox also
suggests highlighting, if appropriate, a country’s policies that
negatively affect the environment and distort trade and investment flows.
For more information:
www.ustr.gov/toolbox.pdf
Event Report
Negotiating Agenda for Market Access:
Cases of SPS and TBT
CUTS Centre for International
Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE), Jaipur, India with the
cooperation of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva, Switzerland and International
Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva,
Switzerland has organised a Workshop Negotiating Agenda for Market Access:
Cases of SPS and TBT on 24-25 April, 2001 at Geneva, Switzerland.
The meeting
focused on enhancing the participants’ capacity, especially those from
the least developed countries, to understand and respond to SPS and TBT
issues. It endeavoured to demystify issues related to these rules
vis-à-vis negotiating market access through presentation of case studies
on the impact of SPS and TBT measures on peoples’ livelihood.
For more information: www.cuts-international.org/event-24-april.htm
Emerging Issues and Viewpoints
Need for a World
Environmental Organisation
The
Organisation of the Impossible, a new paper authored by Konard Von
Moltke of International Institute of Sustainable Development, addresses
the growing debate of global environmental governance and the possible
creation of a World Environment Organisation.
He examines
the proposal in the light of two questions: a) whether a new organisation
would improve international environmental governance significantly? b)
whether it would improve international governance in general? Furthermore,
he examines assumptions on why the existing arrangements have been
ineffective, identifying areas where international environmental regimes
have been successful.
For
the complete paper: www.iisd.org/trade_organisation_of_the_impossible.pdf
USTR Reiterates
Non-protectionist Use of Labour and Environment
In a
statement, Robert B. Zoellick, US.Trade Representative, proposes to
consider a range of ideas for improving the labour and environmental
conditions of trading partners, as long as these proposals are not
protectionist. He submitted this statement before the Subcommittee on
Trade, Committee on Ways & Means of the U.S. House of Representatives.
He further
emphasised on the use of incentives to encourage better environmental
protection and labour standards. For example, incentives can be related to
aid programmes, financing through multilateral development banks, and
preferential trade. Strengthening the role of complementary specialised
institutions, such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) is also
recognised.
For the complete statement:
www.ustr.gov/speech-text/zoellick/zoellick_3.htm
Difficulties in
Enforcing Ethical Trading
It seems that
to enforce ethical guidelines for worldwide production is more difficult
than anybody thought. If good intentions were enough to rid business of
unethical methods of production, child labour and slavery would no longer
exist.
Sadly,
intentions do not always get you very far. In many developing countries,
where the West’s leading brands are manufactured, child labour continues
and health and safety conditions are miserable. Even companies such as
Nike that set out a code of conduct cannot be sure that the reputation of
their brands will not suffer a revelation about dangerous or oppressive
conditions in a factory somewhat along its supply chain.
Drawing up a
code can be done by executives sitting in head office. The hard part is to
ensure that it is implemented.
For the complete story: www.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.htm
Announcement
Panel Discussion on Globalisation: Where do we stand? New Delhi, 27th
June 2001
As part of
its quarterly New Delhi Working Group Discussion, CUTS-CITEE will be
organising a panel discussion on Globalisation: Where do we stand? The
purpose of the meeting is to address the role of globalisation in India’s
economic development.
The
discussion would examine the myths and realities, which are floating
around on issues relating to globalisation. It would also focus on issues
and strategies that could possibly help India to meet her goals and
priorities for economic development.
For more information visit:
http://cuts-international.org/forthcoming-events.htm#“GLOBALISATION
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