global trade

UN Supports Proposal to Curb Arms

UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the idea of an unprecedented treaty regulating the global arms trade yesterday, despite opposition from the United States.

Of the UN's 192 member nations, 147 voted in favor of drafting the treaty. Only the United States and Zimbabwe voted against it, with the other nations absent or abstaining.

Posted in arms, global trade

Latin America's New Consensus

When the Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz said the great tragedy of Mexico was that it was so far from God and so close to the United States, the comment summed up the long and tortured relationship between the Colossus of the North and Latin America.

Starting with the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, the United States has routinely dictated the hemisphere's political and commercial life and, on a score of occasions, overthrown governments it found inimical to its interests.

But the world has suddenly turned upside-down.

Posted in Economy/Trade, global trade, Latin America

Cotton Subsidies Remain Big Hurdle in WTO Doha Round

GENEVA - The Doha Round was launched in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, to provide a developmental dimension to global trade by enabling developing and least developed countries to secure enhanced access for their products in rich country markets. However, there is a pronounced shift in the negotiations in the last seven years -- from developmental issues to the purely market-driven concerns of the dominant players.

Posted in Food/Water, global trade, Human Rights, Africa

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 2008
9:13 AM

CONTACT: International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF)
Bama Athreya, ILRF, (202) 701-3051, bama.athreya@ilrf.org
Eva Seidelman, ILRF (202) 347-4100, ext. 105, eva@ilrf.org
Victor Quesada or Omar Salazar, ASEPROLA, Costa Rica, 011 (506) 285 1344, direccion@aseprola.org
Analea Escresa, EILER, The Philippines, alescresa@yahoo.com

New Report Shows the Cost of the Global Pineapple Industry to Workers and Communities

WASHINGTON - October 20 - A new report by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) shows how global food corporations fail to respect human rights, public health and the environment in their supply chains.

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The International Labor Rights Forum is an advocacy organization dedicated to achieving just and humane treatment for workers worldwide. For more information please visit www.LaborRights.org.

Posted in Food/Water, global trade, Human Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2008
12:42 PM

CONTACT: Co-op America
Ailis Aaron Wolf, for Co-op America, (703) 276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com;
and Angela Walker, for Global Exchange, (650) 766-2748 or angela@globalexchange.org

Reverse Trick-or-Treating: Thousands of Children to Give Back a Quarter Million 'Treats' in US and Canada

Halloween 2008 is First Since Failure to Meet International Child Labor Deadline on Cocoa Production;

Push Focuses on Child Labor Abuses in Cocoa Fields, Poverty, and Environmental Damage

WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO - October 15 - Thousands of children across the US and Canada are turning the traditional Halloween ritual on its head: They are the ones handing out the chocolate. Reversing the trick or treat model, these youths will give away more than a quarter million pieces of Fair Trade Certified^TM chocolates. Now in its second year, the "reverse trick or treating" program is involving many more schools and partners than when it first kicked off for Halloween 2007.

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The Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign was crafted by human rights advocacy group Global Exchange, which has a long track record of successfully encouraging major corporations to adopt new business practices.

The 225,000 Fair Trade Chocolates and informational cards have been provided in the United States by Equal Exchange and Alter Eco, and in Canada by La Siembra.

Co-op America is the leading green economy organization. Founded in 1982, Co-op America provides the economic strategies, organizing power and practical tools for businesses and individuals to solve today's social and environmental problems.

Other organizations with a lead role in Reverse Trick-or-Treating are Americans for Informed Democracy, Fair Trade Federation, International Labor Rights Forum, Oasis, Slow Food, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, United Students for Fair Trade, and United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Posted in Activism, global trade

Global Crises Compound Refugees' Woes: UN

WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (OneWorld) - The global financial, food, and fuel crises and the negative impacts of climate change pose a severe threat to the world's 37 million uprooted people, and will likely increase their numbers, warned the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Monday.

Posted in global trade, Human Rights, Afghanistan, Africa, Asia

Is A Food Bank Answer to Food Crisis?

UNITED NATIONS - Bangladesh, one of the world's 49 least developed countries (LDCs) described as the poorest of the poor, is calling for the creation of a global food bank.

"We have suggested that a Food Bank could allow countries facing a short-term shortfall in production to borrow food grains on preferential terms," says Bangladeshi Prime Minister Fakhruddin Ahmed, who was in New York last week to address the General Assembly.

Once they overcome the shortfall, these countries could return the quantum to the Food Bank, he added.

Posted in Food/Water, global trade

Financial Debacle Discredits US Economic Model

The United States has been relentlessly preaching the mantras of liberalization, privatization and deregulation to the rest of the world. After the recent nationalizations and governmental interventions here to prop up a financial sector undone by deregulation, such U.S. advice to other nations wouldn't even pass the laugh test.

Posted in global trade, Bailout

Cotton Symbolizes Global Trade System’s 'Iniquity'

ACCRA - The international cotton trade has been a sad tale for West African countries. The region produces five percent of the world's cotton and 15 percent of the global cotton fibre trade. Yet West African cotton farmers are among the poorest in the world.

Their purchasing power is only five percent that of farmers in Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Purchasing power refers to the value of goods (cotton) compared to the amount of money paid.

Posted in global trade

Worldwide, Civilians Demand Arms Trade Treaty

UNITED NATIONS - Driven by concerns over the continued loss of civilian lives in armed conflicts, a coalition of rights groups and aid organizations is calling for a worldwide crackdown on the illegal trade in guns.

Posted in global trade, Human Rights, military industrial complex