- Globalization and Employment: New opportunities, real threats (Panos)
Globalisation � the move towards a global economy where national borders cease to matter � has changed the face of the world in which we live. World trade alone has grown at an average annual rate of 6.6 per cent during the 1990s, and is expected to add between US$200 billion and US$500 billion to global income by the year 2001.
- The World Bank's Dangerous Medicine (Health Care Without Harm)
Incineration of medical waste is a leading and easily avoidable source of dioxin, mercury and other pollution. Dioxin is a known human carcinogen and has been linked to birth defects, decreased fertility, immune system suppression and other hormonal dysfunction.
- The Thammasat Resolution: Building and strengthening our sui generis rights (Third World Network)
Some 45 representatives of indigenous, peasant, non-governmental, academic and governmental organisations from 19 countries, who met in Bangkok in early December, issued a statement reaffirming their opposition to the extension of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to all life forms, to biopiracy and the monopolisation of biodiversity-related knowledge through such IPRs.
- US tries to block Thai moves on traditional knowledge (Chakravarthi Raghavan)
A move by the Thai government to recognise the country's traditional healers and regulate access to their knowledge and traditional medicinal genetic resources has drawn protests from the US government. Although the move is fully consistent with Thailand's obligations under UN Conventions and World Trade Organisation accords, the US has moved to intervene even as Thai legislators are debating a bill to give effect to this initiative.
- NAFTA's Chapter 11 and the Environment: Addressing the Impacts of the Investor-State Process on the Environment (Howard Mann, Konrad von Moltke)
Foreign direct investment (FDI) is critical to achieving sustainable development in developing countries. As a source of capital it has in the last two decades completely eclipsed official development assistance and is now between one-third and one-half of all private investment in developing countries...
- Statement from Members of International Civil Society Opposing a Millensium Round of Trade Negotiations (Global Trade Watch)
... members of international civil society, oppose any effort to expand the powers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) through a new comprehensive round of trade liberalisation. Instead, governments should review and rectify the deficiencies of the system and the WTO regime itself... Call for support!!
- The WTO, the World Food System, and the Politics of Harmonised Destruction (Gerard Greenfield, IUF/AP)
Only three years after its creation, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has had a dramatic and far-reaching impact on our lives...
- The Proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment: Harmful to Workers (Robert Naiman and Neil Watkins)
... the impact of globalization on U.S. wages and employment has not been positive. The gains from economic growth have not been shared by the majority of U.S. employees since the early 1970s...
- The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Environment (Michelle Sforza)
Binding language on the responsibilities of investors toward the environment does not and will not appear in the MAI. The MAI is an agreement establishing rights for multinational investors...
- International "Harmonization" of Social, Economic and Environmental Standards
Together, NAFTA and the WTO constitute permanent institutional structures which have significantly increased the power and impact of globalization. Both contain numerous provisions beyond the usual purview of trade agreements which had traditionally focused on tariffs and quotas...
公 平 對 待 懷 孕 外 傭 ／ 蔡 建 誠
