Democracy and the WTO

The battle between the US and EU over bananas is just the first skirmish. Trade in a world of constant innovation, cheap transport and powerful interests inevitably creates conflict. Different standards of production, environmental protection and working conditions will always be disputed. That is why we need a World Trade Organisation to agree rules and resolve disputes if they are broken. What is missing is a fair and effective enforcement mechanism to stop bullying by big powers like the US – or evasion by the EU. Trade needs a framework of just rules, as Adam Smith argued, and in democratic societies the rule-makers must be accountable to the people.

We cannot accept rules from the WTO while it lacks democratic legitimacy or scrutiny. The WTO needs greater transparency and democratic accountability. It also needs to be able to compensate communities who suffer as a result of its decisions – just as Europe and the US do already. And it needs to be able to take account of social and environmental issues in ways that are sensitive to the needs of people in the south. The WTO has the power to decide whether or not we should be able to buy or ban beef boosted by hormones, genetically engineered food, wood from endangered forests, goods made under conditions close to slavery. We now need elective representatives, proportional to population, to scrutinise the WTO’s work. One representative for every 5 million people would create an assembly of about 1,200. That is less than half the number of journalists who attend G7 summits or the climate negotiates in Kyoto. We can’t stop trade disputes. But we can create democratic, legitimate ways of resolving them in peace.

On 24 October, the AWF in Britain joined a coalition of organisations to publish Charter 99, A Charter for Global Democracy, in the national press in Britain and on the World Wide Web (see www.charter99.org). The Charter calls for democratic accountability of global governance and sets out twelve areas for urgent action, including incorporation of the WTO into the UN system as a step towards democratic world government (t.a.).

For further information contact

Titus Alexander

Charter 99, A Charter for Global Democracy

Westminster United Nations Association

32 Carisbrooke Road

London, E17 7EF, UK

e-mail: info@charter99.org

web: www.charter99.org