Sharp Vatican Critique of WTO Approach

ROME (FIDES/CWNews.com) -- A Vatican official has sharply criticized the leaders of the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying that they are "determined to settle international trade policies without listening to civil society."

In a December 3 interview with the FIDES news agency, Bishop Diarmuid Martin, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that the angry protests outside the WTO meetings in Seattle have been "obviously a sign of malcontent."

While condemning the acts of violence, the bishop observed that the demonstrations should be a clear sign to WTO leaders, and that the protests put forward by those demonstrations "must be taken into consideration."

"The WTO cannot proceed without civil society's support, making decisions and interventions from above," Bishop Martin told FIDES. "The civil society must be a main player." He argued that since individual citizens are the ultimate focus of any scheme for economic development, there should be a concerted effort to educate citizens on issues involving global trade, so that individuals can make informed choices and express their opinion to policy-makers. The bishop also said that non-government organizations should have a consultative role in the WTO.

The WTO has an important role to play in the new global marketplace, Bishop Martin said, as "a multilateral organization to develop the rules of international business." However, he continued, "the rules are not sufficient" because of the inequalities in the world markets. He explained: "Even in a common juridical framework, poor countries do not have ready access to resources and benefits, and their capacity to negotiate is not in proportion with the strength of the rich countries."

In order to make the global marketplace fair as well as competitive, the bishop said, the poor countries should be given certain fundamental guarantees, allowing them to retain their best outlets for economic development. As a concrete example of how that could be achieved, he suggested that the wealthy countries could help the poor nations by "eliminating protectionist measures... in the agricultural and textile sectors."

Bishop Martin pointed out that many poor countries can provide work for their people by exporting textiles and agricultural products, and that in these fields the poor countries can compete successfully for the export market-- as long as their efforts are not frustrated by import quotas and protectionist tariffs. In the past, the industrialized countries established import quotas on textile products from Third World countries. During the Uruguay round of trade talks, in the 1980s, they promised a significant reduction of such protective measures. But despite those promises, the European Union and the United States have allowed only a 5 percent increase in textile imports. As a result, unemployment remains high in countries that have the capacity to manufacture inexpensive textiles: countries such as India and Bangladesh.

In the agricultural field, Bishop Martin charged, the rich countries invest $350 billion every year in efforts to protect their own farm industries by subsidizing exports. As a result, agricultural products are sold at artificially low costs in the Third World, undermining the local agricultural economy. According to UN data, the losses suffered by developing countries as a result of protectionist measures is in the neighborhood of $700 billion. Bishop Martin concludes: "This is why even the cancellation of foreign debt is useless, if markets fail to open to the products of poor countries."

Finally, the bishop lamented the lack of cooperation among the many international groups that deal with trade, labor, business, and the environment. "There must be cohesion in international policies," he said, adding that the Jubilee Year would be a wonderful occasion for greater recognition of the need for solidarity among all the world's peoples.

Such solidarity, Bishop Martin continued, must entail an understanding that economic growth is not the only goal to be served by international policies. Leaders must take the common good into account, he said, and that common good involves issues such as social stability, the strength of family life, economic justice, protection of workers, and the preservation of the environment.

"Businesses in the private sector must also assume responsibility to improve human capacities and social infrastructures," Bishop Martin said. "We cannot forget man in the name of profit."

International organizations must serve the goals of all mankind, rather than concentrating exclusively on economic issues, Bishop Martin concluded. He said: "The only thing these organizations have in common is the vice of giving overall first place to economic growth."

CWN - Catholic World News