Doha, Qatar

As a result of its disregard for basic human rights and development concerns, the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha stands to further undermine the legitimacy of the WTO, according to the ICFTU, the world's largest trade union body.

"It is not surprising that the African group of countries has just threatened a walk-out from the Conference, nor that so many delegations are expressing their concern at the failure to consider deep-seated reforms of the WTO system and agreements", said ICFTU General Secretary Bill Jordan. "The new draft text issued by WTO chair Stuart Harbinson this morning offers nothing new on fundamental workers' rights or the environment, nor does it correspond to the needs of developing countries."

The new draft declaration reverts to language first proposed two months ago which merely reaffirms the declaration on core labour standards made at the first WTO Conference in 1996, and just "takes note" of the work at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the social dimension of globalisation. The demands for the WTO to recognise the negative effects of trade on the basic rights of hundreds of millions of workers, and to start doing something about the problem in conjunction with the ILO, are entirely ignored.

"This WTO Conference may well prove to have been the WTO's last chance for constructive engagement. It will not have another like this", said Bill Jordan. "If the WTO is to enjoy popular confidence in all parts of the world, it must respond to popular concerns in areas like workers' rights, the environment and consumer safety. It must contribute to the development of the developing world. If it can rise to that challenge, the WTO could be recognised generally as the lynch-pin of a stable and sustainable multilateral trading system. If it does not, its unpopularity will only go on getting worse."

There is no reference in the draft declaration to the International Development Targets (IDTs) of the United Nations, as developing countries had demanded. Most of the section on the environment remains in square brackets (meaning that there is no sign of agreement). The sections on investment continue to speak of possible negotiations on the basis of principles which would remove the ability of developing country governments to prioritise their own national companies over multinational corporations - without any reference to the need for multinationals to respect basic workers' rights and environmental standards. And to little surprise, the draft text fails to tackle the opening up and democratisation of the WTO to enable trade unions and other representative organisations to take part in its mechanisms and procedures.

A few grains of comfort can be drawn from some positive gains (if they make it to the final declaration) in the text on public health issues in relation to the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) controversy, and some improvements, especially for least developed countries, in the references to "special and differential treatment" for developing countries.

The ICFTU represents more than 156 millions workers in 221 affiliated organisation in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions:  http://www.global-unions.org