World Trade Organization (WTO)

The World Trade Organization is an international, multilateral organization which sets the rules for the global trading system. The organization was established in 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round, the eight round occurring under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).  The stated aim of the WTO is to promote free trade and stimulate economic growth by lower trade barriers and providing a platform for the negotiation of trade and to their business. Apart from hosting negotiations on trade rules, one of the principal functions of the WTO is to acts as an arbiter of disputes between member states.

The organization has 150 members (76 members at its foundation and a further 74 members joined over the following years. WTO oversees about 60 different agreements which have the status of international legal texts. Most of the WTO decisions, such as the adopting and revision of agreements are officially determined by consensus of all member states. However, in reality the negotiations proceed not by consensus of all members, but by a process of informal negotiations between small groups of countries. These negotiations, known as "Green Room" negotiations (due to the color of the WTO Director-General's Office in Geneva), or "Mini-Ministerials", when occurring in other countries, have been criticized on a regular basis by the WTO's developing country members which are often totally excluded from the negotiations.

The critique of WTO is however not limited to the process by which decisions is made. The idea that free trade would make the life of ordinary people more prosperous is debated, especially in regard to the growing gap between the rich and the poor (both people and countries). The WTO treaties have also been accused of a partial and unfair bias toward multinational corporations and wealthy nations. Some issues that have been put forward are; rich countries ability to maintain high import duties and quotas in certain products, blocking imports from developing countries; the increase in non-tariff barriers such as anti-dumping measures allowed against developing countries;  the maintenance of high protection of agriculture in developed countries while at the same time developing countries are being pressed to open their markets; the lacking capacity of many developing countries to follow the negotiations and participate actively in negotiations; and the TRIPS agreement which limits the ability of developing countries to utilize technology originating from abroad in their local systems.

Critics of the WTO also put forward issues of health, safety and environment claiming that they are steadfastly ignored in favor of influential nations commercial interests.
The call for a more democratic participation in WTO decision making has been put forward. The question of negotiation power and influence is however difficult to solve as long as the existing inequality between countries, hugely affecting the efficiency in participation within WTO bodies, exist. The problem of informal meetings whereby the most important decisions are negotiate is also hard to solve.

The Doha Development Agenda
The November 2001 declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, provides the mandate for negotiations on a range of subjects and other work, including the negotiations on agriculture and services which began in 2000 and the problems many developing countries face when it comes to the implementation of the present WTO agreements. The talks during the Doha round, which aims to lower trade barriers and permit free trade between countries without much regard to difference in prosperity, have been problematic, especially in regard to the divide between the European Union, the US and major developing countries, and despite continuing talks agreement has not been reached.

Financing for Development
The process of Financing for Development was initiated by the United Nations General Assembly in parallel to the Doha round. The aim of the process is to bring the key stakeholder for development together to discuss how to assure the funding needed to reach internationally agreed development goals and eradicate poverty. The first international Conference on Financing for Development was held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2002. The Conference addressed the questions on how to mobilize domestic resources, attract international flows, promote international trade, increase the financial and technical cooperation for development, handle external dept and make the global monetary, financial and trading systems work to promote development.

The outcome of the Conference was the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus where the parties agreed to remain committed to these issues and keep them on the international agenda. The Monterrey Consensus acknowledged, among other things, the need for a holistic and gender-sensitive approach to the challenge of Financing for Development.

A follow up conference on the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus will be held in Doha, Qatar, in the second half of 2008.

In addition WILPF looks at disarmament for development during UN General Assembly first committee. Find out more on that in the First Committee Monitor on our website Reaching Critical Will.