Geneva, 5 Nov (Chakravarthi
Raghavan) -- "Double standards supported by powerful vested interests
govern in many areas of the world economy" and thus there is a need for
"a fundamental reform of the existing system of global economic
governance," is one of the major conclusions and recommendations out of
the recent meeting of the Prague Forum 2000.
Founded in 1996 as a joint initiative of President Vaclav Havel,
philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel,
the prestigious Forum 2000 has attracted to Prague a large number of
renowned and respected personalities from all over the world to discuss
acute issues of globalization.
This year's event, under the theme 'Bridging Global Gaps Conference',
brought together a group of about 40 personalities from opposing camps
in current debates about globalization. Representatives from the Bretton
Woods Institutions, transnational corporations, their critics from civil
society groups, academics and politicians, met to identify areas of
agreement as well as disagreement in terms of the current global
economic framework.
In four thematic workshops, they discussed the profound gaps which are
tearing apart from global society, and possible ways of bridging them,
and strove to find common ground among differing views and thus provide
for a continuing dialogue.
The highlights of the 3-day meet, according to a summary posted on (www.forum2000.cz)
are:
* Freedom of expression is a non-negotiable right, but information and
media must not be left solely in the hands of free market forces,
* Representatives of the Bretton Woods Institutions join the call for a
fundamental reform of global economic rules to ensure a fair playing
field,
* Corporate leaders approve of binding legal standards for transnational
corporations, and
* NGOs and multilateral institutions agree that eliminating trade
barriers and the level of subsidies is fundamental for heavily indebted
poor countries.
Participants in the workshop on the 'Information Gap and the Role of the
Media: Asymmetry of Information Flows,' included media scholars and
practitioners, activists and representatives of multilateral financial
institutions. They expressed numerous concerns, and tried to identify
the best practices of dealing with gaps in the information society.
While defending the freedom of expression as a 'fundamental and
non-negotiable right,' the participants jointly stated that information
and media must not be left solely in hands of the free market forces.
They saw deregulation, privatization, transnationalization and the
extent of commercial competition as a "barrier to media independence."
For example, the global centrality of five news agencies and three
providers of images is resulting in agenda setting and the
commodification of news.
"Free media is fundamental and non-negotiable. It is built on freedom of
expression and is not a translation of market freedom," they agreed.
The participants saw public service to be under threat from a variety of
factors, including state abuse, survival in market-driven, competitive
environments, and lack of government support.
Feedback and local rights to reply need to be facilitated by
transnationalised media.
Developing interactive discussions on responsibility and voluntary codes
in and between media and social actors can be compounded and developed,
nationally and in international bodies such as the Council of Europe,
the participants suggested.
A crucial need is to support and develop wherever possible local and
community media. Many channels and networks exist that can be supported,
and international media can cooperate with and source. This may be one
way of addressing the asymmetry of flows and concentration of sources.
A second workshop address issues under "Gap in the Rules: Double
Standards in International Trade and Finance?"
All participants, representing multilateral financial institutions,
civil society groups, academia and the government sector acknowledged
that double standards, supported by powerful vested interests govern in
many areas of the world economy.
In a joint declaration of common goals they called for a fundamental
reform of the existing system of global economic governance:
Double standards must be eradicated and a fair playing field for all
must be ensured, they said.
The existing multilateral institutions need to be democratized and the
voice of the developing countries as well as non-governmental
organizations needs to be strengthened
The United Nations must be empowered to ensure compliance by all
countries, rich and poor, with international rules
Also, activities of transnational corporations must be effectively
monitored
A third workshop addressed the issues of the gap between public interest
and private profit - and questions of 'Ethics, Accountability and
Sustainability in the World of Transnational Corporations."
The workshop included four participants clearly representing civil
society, four representing corporations and four living in both worlds,
according to the summary posted at the website.
The final outcome strongly supported the need for establishing a new set
of binding legal standards for TNCs within a UN structured framework, in
which civil society, NGOs and corporations would all participate.
The participants came up with a statement, highlighting, among others,
the following points:
* There is a need to establish a UN-structured framework to implement a
concentrated strategy of the goals of accountability, transparency and
environmental protection. It would involve corporations, civil society,
and NGOs under the same umbrella.
* International binding agreements on corporate accountability, with
corporations being made liable for damage generated, including
individuals in posts of responsibility, need to be established . * There
should be constructive use of tax policy to influence behaviour, by
shifting the tax burden towards generators of unwanted waste -
"ecological tax shifting".
* Legal requirements need to be developed for corporations to publish
the scale and extent of their externality costs, and corporations made
legally liable for disclosure.
* Re-educating economists and accountants and changing costs assessments
to include externalised costs and to provide for quality of life
accounting.
* International binding agreements on corporate accountability, with
corporations being made liable for damage generated, including
individuals in posts of responsibility.
On the North-South Gap and looking Beyond External debt, another
workshop, where representatives of the international financial
institutions, governments, civil society and NGOs participated, a final
outcome summarized the current debates revolving around the current
proposals on debt restructuring mechanisms and highlighted the areas of
agreement as well as those of conflict.
While there was a general agreement that the situation in the third
world (i.e. developing, heavily indebted countries) would be
unsustainable under present scenarios, there was a strong consensus on
the need to eliminate the trade barriers and current level of subsidies
in the agricultural sector in the developed world. There were, however,
several viable alternatives mentioned and thoroughly discussed.
* The debt sustainability is linked directly to improved market access.
And the call for the elimination of trade barriers is viewed as one
important step in the drive for eradicating the poverty.
* To achieve the Millennium Summit Development Goals, significantly
increased level of development assistance is needed, as recognized by
the Monterrey Summit on Financing for Development. After a decade of
continuously falling aid levels "we now have concrete, time-bound
promises of increases in aid volumes from the EU, United States and
other donors."
These promises were welcomed by all the panellists who stressed that
these have to be delivered as soon as possible.
* Calls for bigger transparency, responsibility and accountability
evolved into a debate on the possible creation of an independent
institution that could take the assessor, arbitrator role.
* An idea of replacing loans with grants has been raised and defended
passionately. All participants welcomed an increased use of grants, in
particular for the purposes of education, fighting HIV/AIDS and
preventing conflict. This will help reducing the debt burden. An
increased level of funding will help expand the use of grants.
The full report of the conference is in the process of being issued. The
summary, including participants and the programme can be found at the
website (www.forum2000.cz).
The participants included: Vaclav Havel (President of the Czech
Republic), Yilmaz Akyuz (UNCTAD's Director of Globalization and
Development Strategies), Eduardo Aninat (Deputy Managing Director of the
IMF), Sylvia Borren of NOVIB (Dutch NGO), Rufus Yerxa (Deputy
Director-General of the WTO), Rosendo Fraga (Executive Director of
Estudios Union para la Nueva Mayoria), Anthony Giffard (Director of
School of Communications at the Washington University), Mats Karlson
(Vice-President of the World Bank), Frederik Willem de Klerk (Former
President of South Africa who headed the Apartheid regime and with
Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize for removal of apartheid in
South Africa), T.Rajamoorthy (Editor of Third World Resurgence), Robert
Reich (American scholar and politician), Jeffrey Sachs (American
economist), Paul Tran Van Thinh (former ambassador of the European
Commission to the GATT and WTO), Susan George (Vicepresident of ATTAC,
France). |