News

Global Civil Society letter to UNCTAD Secretary General on Investment Issues

15 October, 2014
On the occasion of UNCTAD World Investment Forum 2014, on October 13-16, Global Civil Society, in a letter to Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Member States of UNCTAD underlined various issues emerge from bilateral investment treaties (BITs) including investor state dispute settlement provisions. It called for a progressive role of UNCTAD to provide support to third world governments in framing alternative policies and remove major impediments to sustainable development created by international investment agreements (IIAs).

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International Civil Society Sends Letter to Governments Opposing Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)”

Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), 345 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people from nearly every developing and developed country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), and the ATTAC European network. The letter was organized by the OWINFS network.

Strengthen, Don’t Weaken, UNCTAD’s Role in Global Governance: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive Development, Not More Crises

Since the onset of the global financial and economic crises, UNCTAD has played an important role in identifying the key causes of the crises, assisting developing countries in seeking solutions to the impacts of the crises, and advocating for the reform of global economic and finance policies and governance in order to prevent similar crises from recurring. These are all key roles that no other multilateral economic institution has fulfilled from a development perspective.

Developing nations call for WTO deal to help poor

Reuters
GENEVA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Developing countries called on Sunday for a quick deal in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of talks to help poor nations by removing unfair distortions in the global trading system. Trade ministers from Brazil, India and Indonesia issued the call after a meeting on the eve of a WTO conference in Geneva.

Foro internacional "Crisis global, G20 y políticas alternativas"

Ciudad de México, 26 y 27 de marzo 2012

Evento que reúne un abanico importante de expertos tanto universitarios como de los movimientos sociales, que compartirán sus análisis en torno al rol del G20 como espacio informal de gobernancia de la economía mundial, y expondrán políticas alternativas para enfrentar la actual crisis mundial y construir un modelo de desarrollo que ponga la gente y la naturaleza en el centro de la economía.

DIFUSIÓN EN VIVO / cliquea aquí

Organizado por la Coalición mexicana frente al G20
en colaboración con el Posgrado de la Facultad de Economía de la UNAM

Rumbo a la Cumbre del G20 en junio 2012, en Los Cabos, México

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INTERNATIONAL FORUM "GLOBAL CRISIS, G20 AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES"
Mexico City, March 26-27, 2012

Event that gathers academic and social movements' experts, who will share their analysis on the G20 as the "new" informal body of governance of the global economy, and expose different policy alternatives to confront the actual global crisis and build a development model that puts people and nature first.

LIVE BROADCAST (in Spanish) / click here

Organized by the Mexican Coalition on G20
in collaboration with the Faculty of Economy of UNAM

Towards the G20 Summit in June 2012, in Los Cabos, Mexico


Global Civil Society letter on the Nairobi Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO), December 9, 2015

9 December, 2015
As members of 453 civil society organizations including trade unions, environmentalists, farmers, development advocates, and public interest groups from over 150 countries, we are writing today to express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO. We urge you to take seriously the need for the upcoming Nairobi Ministerial to change existing WTO rules to make the global trading system more compatible with people-centered development, and to forestall efforts by some developed countries to abandon the development agenda and replace it with a set of so-called “new issues” that actually are non-trade issues that would impact deeply on domestic economies and constrain national policy space required for development and public interest.

VIDEOS: G20 Counter-Summit, Opening Conference: "G20 and the Global Crisis on the Eve of an Attack Against Syria", Sept. 3, 2013

G20 Counter-Summit, Opening Conference: "G20 and the Global Crisis on the Eve of an Attack Against Syria", Sept. 3, 2013

With Samir Amin (Third World Network/Egypt-France), Dorothy Guerrero (Focus on the Global South/?hailand), Hanny van Geel (Via Campesina/Netherlands), Pedro Paez (Head of the Antimonopoly Service of Ecuador), Edgardo Lander (Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela) and Boris Kagarlitsky (Institut for Globalization and Social Movements, Russia).

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

Global Civil Society Letter to Roberto Azevêdo on Yemen’s Accession Commitments on IP

28 November, 2013
In this letter to Mr. Roberto Azevêdo, Director General, WTO, 162 organizations expressed concerns regarding intellectual property commitments being forced on Yemen as part of its WTO accession package that will be presented for formal adoption, to the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, 3-6 December 2013.

Global civil society groups strongly object to the recently formed “WTO Panel on Defining the Future of Trade”

25 June, 2012
25 June, 2012
Global civil society groups write to Pascal Lamy, outgoing WTO Director General, to strongly object to the recently formed “WTO Panel on Defining the Future of Trade.” This panel, more than half of which is composed by representatives of the business sector, does not have the global legitimacy of the stakeholders – those who will be impacted by the future of trade negotiations within the WTO – to be able to propose a legitimate path forward for future WTO negotiations.