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The WTO after ten years
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| From: | WTOadmin  | 4/20/2005 11:28 am |
| To: | ALL |
(1 of 4) | | | | 5.1 | |
Dialogue with civil society – responsibilities on both sides
The Consultative Board recommends that the membership should develop a set of clear objectives for the WTO's relations with civil society and the public at large. Within the general framework of these objectives, the 1996 General Council Guidelines for Arrangements on Relations with Non-Governmental Organizations should be further developed so as to guide Secretariat staff in their consultations and dialogue with civil society and the public. Guidance should include the criteria to be employed when selecting organizations with which the Secretariat might develop more systematic and in-depth relations. However, no single set of organizations should be constituted to the permanent exclusion of others. Further, the Secretariat is under no obligation to engage seriously with groups whose express objective is to undermine or destroy the WTO. |
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| | | | | 5.2 in reply to 5.1 | |
| At the end of the day, countries are members of the WTO, not NGOs. I also have questions about the openness, transparency and accountabilty of some NGOs. The public demonstrations around WTO Ministerials reveal that a lot of people think a lot is wrong with the WTO but whose agenda should have primacy? I'm quite happy to have a discussion on this if anyone wants to! Ari |
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| From: | KS251 | 4/21/2005 1:26 am |
| To: | ALL |
(3 of 4) | | | | 5.3 in reply to 5.2 | |
When discussing the relationship between the WTO and NGOs many commentators stress the legitimising role NGOs can play. What does legitimacy mean in this context? How would formal NGO participation make the WTO more legitimate? And in the eyes of whom?
K |
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| | | | | 5.4 in reply to 5.1 | |
I understand and agree that there should be open information and transparency, but the WTO is in no position to accept position form interest groups. The problem arises when the civil society just have a "noisy representation" I mean they truely dont represent the people they say to represent, they misinform them, and they take legitimity from protests. Each member state selected their government democratically or according to their laws, they have legitimity to present positions. There should be a space for all institutions to present opionions to their governments and then if the governments support them, then the process is to present it before the WTO organs, as proposal. But the interest groups should not have that influence, otherwise it wont be posible to make decision and who is to decide what organizations to listen to? International organizations may present valid arguments and try to influence discussions and for that there should be transparency, but the members should be in no obligation to accept them.
Claudia |
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