Trade and WTO
December 2005 is crunch time in the fight for trade justice, as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meets in Hong Kong to decide on the future of the international economic system. Ministers from all 148 member countries of the WTO will have six days to thrash out a deal which will shape world trade rules well into the 21st century. The pressure is on, and the stakes could not be higher.
Yet the people who will be most affected are not the politicians or the journalists who flock to cover the conference. The decisions made at the WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial will have most impact on ordinary working people and their families in the developing world. For them, the difference between success and failure will not be measured in corporate balance sheets and profit margins. For the world's poor, what happens in Hong Kong could mean the difference between life and death.
 | Hong Kong blog: Read War on Want media officer John Coventry's blog from the WTO meeting. |
 | | Hong Kong briefing: As the WTO finally abandons any last pretence of a 'development round', War on Want calls for the WTO negotiations to be suspended. |
| Downing Street protest: Trade justice campaigners braved the cold to tell Government ministers in Hong Kong to reject a WTO deal that will allow big businesses to make poverty worse for the world’s poor. |
 | | The WTO and the 'Free Trade' threat: A summary of the dangers of trade liberalisation and the UK Government's objective to force open developing country markets. |
| Mass Lobby of Parliament: Over 8,000 people showed up to lobby their MPs for trade justice not free trade, and War on Want was there with them. |
 | | UK Government is part of the problem [pdf]: Download full briefing as to why the UK government's aggressive free trade agenda is a major barrier in the fight against poverty. |
 | | NAMA watch: Forcing open industrial and manufacturing markets threatens to increase poverty levels through the WTO's non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations. |
 | | Stop EPAs Campaign: Economic Partnership Agreements - the EU's latest approach to negotiating 'free trade' agreements with the countries of the ACP. |
 | | War on Want Supports Fair Trade: Fair trade NOT free trade is fundamental if we are to reduce global poverty. |
| Take action! Email Peter Mandelson: Send an email to the EU trade commissioner and demand trade justice NOW. |
 | | Trade Justice Movement: War on Want is an integral part of the Trade Justice movement campaigning for trade justice - not free trade - with the rules weighted to benefit poor people and the environment. |
 | | Go to Trade Justice Homepage: Find out more about the issues surrounding trade liberalisation and the need for trade justice. |
