Archive - 2017

Date

Type

December 10th

Statement by Sally Burch

I have participated in many UN meetings over the years, either as a journalist or communication rights activist, always with a constructive perspective. I have never expressed disruptive attitudes, much less advocated violence. Therefore, the only explanation I can find for my deportation from Argentina is that the government finds my opinions and analysis “disruptive” (to use the term employed by a member of the foreign ministry) of its neoliberal and pro-corporate agenda. Some of these ideas might include:

- That issues of grave importance for humanity, with implications for human r

WTO Summit to Ignore Price Crisis, Agricultural Dumping

Around the world, chronically low crop prices are keeping farmers from making a living despite record harvests

TWN Info: Is “gender” a Trojan horse to introduce new issues at WTO?

TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues

10 December 2017

Third World Network, www.twn.my

Is “gender” a Trojan horse to introduce new issues at WTO?

Buenos Aires, 10 December (Roberto Bissio) – A “Joint Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment” co-sponsored by Iceland and Sierra Leone is estimated to have already received the backing of more than one-third of the World Trade Organization (WTO) members and might get official approval during the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) that starts today in the Argenti

December 8th

Argentina’s WTO Civil Society Ban is Outrageous

8 December, 2017

See also Sharan Burrow’s video message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAq1b-JpdMM&feature=youtu.be

INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION

ITUC OnLine

Argentina’s WTO Civil Society Ban is Outrageous

Brussels, 8 December 2017 (ITUC OnLine): Argentina’s decision to ban civil society advocates from participating in meetings at the WTO Ministerial Conference which starts on 10 December is bizarre and anti-democratic.

Argentina causes WTO scandal: Critical NGOs banned and possibly denied entry on the border

8 December, 2017

Petter Slaatrem Titland, leader of the Norwegian organisation Attac Norway, is now held on the border to Argentina on his way to the WTO summit.

- How can the Norwegian foreign minister negotiate in the WTO on behalf of the Norwegian population while Norwegian civil society is denied accreditation to the summit and entry into Argentina, said Titland in a comment earlier today.

This happens as Argentinian authorities have withdrawn accreditations to the summit for several NGOs, including Attac Norway.

December 3rd

Follow-up letter on the disaccreditation issue from OWINFS to Mr. Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of the WTO

3 December, 2017

Dear Mr. Roberto Azevêdo,

Greetings from Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network. We are writing to remind you that we are awaiting a response to our letter, and to bring additional facts to bear on our predicament.

We fully understand that in the case of the banned civil society representatives, that they had been duly accredited by the WTO, and that the decision to revoke the accreditation lies with the Argentine government.

October 11th

11th WTO Ministerial - Letter from Global Civil Society about the Agenda of the WTO

9 October, 2017

Trade Ministers from only 35 countries will attend a “mini-Ministerial” in Morocco which is intended to solidify the agenda for the upcoming 11th Ministerial Conference of the 164-member WTO (MC11) to be held December 10-13, 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Members of 300 civil society organizations (CSOs) including trade unions, environmentalists, farmers, development advocates, and public interest groups from over 150 countries just sent an urgent letter to WTO members to raise alarm “that some WTO members are pushing a dangerous and inappropriate new agenda.” It was organized by the global Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network and is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Greek.