Food for a hindered thought
---------------------------
Human Rights Reader 82
TRADE, GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
1. In a free-market world economy, Third World countries are not
being given the benefits they and their economies need, but
rather what-ideologically-motivated-Northern-trade-partners be-
lieve they should give them. Conversely, in the local economy,
only those who have something to sell -- and are not hindered in
selling it (!) -- can earn anything from trade.
2. So, when trade rules threaten the right to food of the poor,
those trade rules should be challenged on the basis of existing
Human Rights Covenants. Therefore, states, independent human
rights commissions and/or NGOs should undertake 'human rights
(HR) impact assessments' of the trade rules the respective coun-
try abides by, both during the process of trade negotiations and
after negotiations; such an assessment must be public and par-
ticipatory so as to safeguard people's and communities' rights
from the avariciousness of commercial interests and patent
rights. (AIFO)
3. Often, human rights work also ends up calling for better gov-
ernance. But this concept is interpreted to mean many different
things.
4. For the developed countries of the North, it means shaping
states' policies worldwide so as to create the environments-
most-favorable-to-the-opening-up-of-the-countries-of-the-South-
to-globalized-free-markets! It means forcing the hand of these
countries to adopt neo-liberal economic policies. The aim here
is not really to foster greater democratic participation, but
rather state-sponsored market deregulation.
5. This being the case, one can justifiably ask: When creating
such 'favorable' environments, has neo-liberalism been able to
manage the crisis of the world system? And the answer has to be
a resounding NO. This latest stage of Capitalism has actually
not yet shown it can curb the growth of impoverishment in large
segments of both the Third and the First World.
6. By now, we all know neo-liberalism is not a development
model, but a domination model! Period.
So, we do not need this kind of moralizing rhetoric about good
governance.
7. As understood from a HR perspective, the hallmarks of good
governance, are: democratic and impartial institutions; the dif-
fusion of information to the public; transparency in decision-
making; the participation of all actors; free and fair elec-
tions; efficient management of resources; expert competence in
assessing situations; accountability; integrity; AND explicit
respect for human (people's) rights. These hallmarks will be
sought in vain as long as the structural obstacles that prevent
the vast majority of countries of the world from exercising
their right to development and to democracy are not removed.
This fact leads committed HR workers to a very clear path of
where the priorities lie. The crude reality of our times has
simply led to levels of inequality beyond tolerance.
8. All this emphasizes what this Reader has said many times be-
fore, namely that, if the context and the framework of our de-
velopment discourse are wrong, discussions and actions based on
the wrong analyses will be like pouring water into a broken ves-
sel; no amount of effort to fill it will be sufficient.
Claudio Schuftan
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn
--
Mostly taken from several Third World Network publications.