This year saw some fantastic sessions organised by a variety of international NGOS, all of which can be downloaded as MP3 audio files here.

To save you some time, I’ve picked out the ones I think are probably of most interest to readers of this blog:

• Climate-change policies and trade rules: Conflict or coherence? – Organised by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE).  Download the audio here.

• A new global contract for food and agriculture: What can the WTO contribute? – Organised by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). Download the audio here.

• Human rights impact assessment (HRIA): A pertinent tool for informing and improving trade governance? – Organised by 3D for Trade — Human Rights — Equitable Economy. Download the audio here.

• Labour and environment provisions in bilateral and regional agreements: Challenges for the multilateral trading system

• - Organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD). Download the audio here.

• Multilateralism, our global crises and strategies for the future – Organised by the South Centre and the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University.  Download the audio here.

• How do agreements on trade in services have a role in the financial crisis and the measures to deal with the economic crisis? – Organised by the Third World Network (TWN) and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO). Download the audio here.

• Fundamental human rights at work and the role of the WTO:  operational routes – Organised by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Download the audio here.

That should keep you listening for a few hours!

In the meantime, if you’re in Melbourne or Sydney, you may be interested to come along to a special public meeting next week, to be addressed two prominent Pacific Island trade activists:

Trade, labour mobility and development in the Pacific.

The Australian government has been pushing for greater regional economic integration in the Pacific islands, and promoting a regional trade agreement known as PACER-Plus. But what will free trade and increased overseas investment mean for workers and local communities in the Pacific? What are the costs and benefits of increased labour mobility in the Pacific and seasonal work schemes which provide access for Pacific workers to the Australian and New Zealand labour markets?

Join us to hear from two leading campaigners for trade justice in the Pacific:

* Maureen Penjueli from Fiji is co-ordinator of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), which links regional community, church and women’s organisations to raise awareness about the social, cultural and economic impacts of PACER-Plus and free trade in the Pacific.

* John Salong from Vanuatu is director of the Vanuatu Women’s Development Scheme (VANWODS), a non-government microfinance group, which provides disadvantaged women with access to credit and income earning opportunities. John has been active in the debate about remittances, seasonal labour mobility and development options for rural communities in Vanuatu.

Details:

MELBOURNE:

Date: Monday 16 November 2009, 6.00pm
Venue: Meeting room 1, Ground floor, Trades Hall (Corner Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton – enter off Victoria Street).
Full Details here (PDF)

SYDNEY:

Date: Thursday 19th November 2009 at 6pm
Venue: Mitchell Theatre, Level 1, Sydney Mechanic School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney CBD .
Full details here (PDF).

The speakers have been organised by Aid/Watch, and are being supported by Global Trade Watch.  For further information contact: Gary Lee (Aidwatch) on (02) 95578944 or Nic Maclellan on 0421840100.

UPDATE:

There’s also a meeting in Canberra:

Date: Tuesday 17 November 2009 at 6pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre, Manning Clark Centre, Australian National University
Full details here (PDF)

Over the last 15 or so years (and going back to the collapse of the international commodities agreements in the 1980s), WTO, bilateral and regional free trade agreements have brought down the barriers to subsidised US & EU produce in most of the world’s nations.  The effect has been to progressively driven down the price of legal commodities in most countries, and force farmers into debt and off their land, as they find their own produce unable to compete with the cheap imports.

How many have reacted to this situation by switching to drug crops like coca for cocaine?  Seems a pretty logical choice, from their perspective.

One answer (the one proposed in the film) is to buy fair trade products, and support fair prices for the few million farmers who are certified to produce Fair Trade commoditeis.

Another – more serious – answer would be to push governments to re-negotiate international agreements to ensure that the prices of (legal) commodities support the billions of farmers around the world who grow them. (About 50% of the world’s population currentlyt depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.)

Have a look and tell us what you think in the comments below.

Last year, he was also appointed by the Un to the position of “Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.  (Yes, that’s his actual job title!  Fantastic isn’t it – I wonder how he fits it on his business cards?)

Anyway, on June 2 Grover presented his annual report to to the UN Human Rights council. (You can also download his accompanying speech here – most of the quotes below are from the speech.)

His report is an outstanding, scathing attack on the effects of the WTO’s TRIPs agreement, and other bilateral & regional FTAs in denying ordinary people around the world access to life-saving medicines.

He starts with some worrying statistics:

Nearly 2 billion people lack access to essential medicines, and massive inequalities still remain regarding access to health services and medicines around the world, which is partly due to high costs, Improving access to medicines could save 10 million lives a year, 4 million in Africa and South East Asia.

Then he sheets home the blame:

TRIPS and FTAs have had an adverse impact on prices and availability of medicines by creating obstacles for States to comply with their obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health. Similarly, the lack of capacity, together with external pressures from developed countries has created obstacles for developing countries and LDCs to use TRIPS flexibilities to promote access to medicines.

I am particularly concerned that the supply of generic medicines is now in doubt as countries that have been the generic producers have become TRIPS compliant and have had to introduce product patents.

Among a variety of evidence of how these agreements are blocking access to medicines, his report recounts a shocking story I heard in Thailand in 2007 when I was there filming Squeezed. The story is this:

Thailand also faced pressure following its attempts to lower prices of medicines through compulsory licensing. Between 2006 and 2007, Thailand issued compulsory licences for HIV and heart disease medicines in order to meet its obligations to provide universal access to medicines. In 2007, Thailand was placed on the Special 301 Priority Watch List. The position of the European Commission was also unwelcoming of the measures taken by Thailand. One of the affected companies withdrew seven pending applications for registration of new medicines in Thailand, thus effectively withholding them from the Thai market.

I always thought that this was extraordinary: a pharmaceutical company withholding its medicines from a market that’s in need (and willing to pay!) in “punishment” for a government taking steps to protect the health of its citizens!

Anyway, the impacts of TRIPs and the TRIPs+ provisions of mnay FTA are much wider – it’s worth having a look at the report to see just how wide.

Unforunately the recommendations which accompany the report are neccesarily conservative (nothing inthere about abolishing TRIPs altogether, I’m afraid.)  But it does recommend against TRIPs+ provisions for developing countries (like the ones that Australia includes in its FTAs):

Developing countries and LDCs should not introduce TRIPS-plus standards in their national laws. Developed countries should not encourage developing countries and LDCs to enter into TRIPS-plus FTAs and should be mindful of actions which may infringe upon the right to health.

Which is a start.

So, to pick up where I left off, I did promise a follow-up on the G20 meeting in April.  You don’t really remember it? Don’t worry: not that much ended up happening anyway.

Quick summary for those with not much time: The IMF won, ordinary people lost.

For a more in-depth analysis, the Bretton Woods Project has a good summary of what was decided (more money for the IMF and for its Special Drawing Rights) and and what was glossed over (real reform of the IMF, real money for the world’s poorest, and concrete commitments to slowing greenhouse emissions) at the meeting.

The Third World Network also offered some great analysis of the outcome – you can get a flavour of it with article titles like “A DEVELOPMENT-BLIND G20 OUTCOME THAT EMPOWERS AN UNREFORMED IMF” and “Reality behind the hype of the G20 Summit”

Online think tank Foreign Policy in Focus also featured a great analysis from  John Cavanagh and Robin Broad titled: “London Econ Summit: Born of Good Intentions, But Ends in Disastrous Results“.  Needless to say, they weren’t impressed at the outcomes either (note to John & Robin: don’t give away your punch-line in your title!)

And just released today (!) is a new report from organisations involved in the Put People First alliance in the UK, which finds that progress at the April G20 was insufficient to create “transformative” economic change.  The report argues that G20 leaders strengthened  institutions like the IMF which hace been responsible for overseeing the policies that caused the global financial crisis in the first place. But luckily there are a variety of positive recommendations for changes that governments should make at the next G20 meeting (in November), in areas like

• Delivering democratic governance
• Delivering justice and ending global poverty and inequality
• Creating a safer climate and a green economy

You can download the full report from the Put People First website here.

Please leave a comment if you’ve seen some other, incisive analysis of the meeting….

Update: Just remembered: if you want more analysis, check out G20 Voice, an initiative of Oxfam GB bringing together 50 bloggers to analyse the G20 meeting.

If you haven’t been following the discussion, below is a collection of some of the best or most important reports and articles I’ve seen in the lead-up to the G20 meeting, including the various issues around the financial/economic crisis which will be discussed there, and the various governments and non-government bodies that have opinions about it all.  In the next few days I’ll also post some of the best analysis following the summit about what gets decided.

Enjoy:

Background:

- Nobel Prize Winner and former World Bank cheif economist Joseph Stiglitz has been leading a commission which has been looking at hw to reform the global economic system.  The grandly named Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System released its report about a fortnight ago.  The Commission has made some exciting, far-reaching and possibly (hopefully!) world-changing recommendations for new global institutions.  You can read the full report here (PDF), or a summary article from Stiglitz in The Guardian here: Reform is needed. Reform is in the air. We can’t afford to fail. There’s more extended coverage of the report from the Third World Network here and here.

- The Africa Progress Panel is Chaired By Kofi Annan, and brings together a variety of political leaders and experts on development including Michel Camdessus (former Managing Director, IMF), Goodall Gondwe (Minister of Finance, Malawi), Gilbert Houngbo (Prime Minister, Togo), Trevor Manuel (Minister of Finance, South Africa), Simon Maxwell (Director, Overseas Development Institute), Festus Mogae (former President of Botswana), Linah Mohohlo (Governor, Bank of Botswana), Todd Moss (Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development), Benno Ndulu (Governor, Central Bank of Tanzania) and Ngaire Woods (Director of the Global Economic Governance Programme, University of Oxford).  The panel has just issued its report ahead of the G20 meeting, warning that “reform of global governance will fail if poorest countries are sidelined.”  The report, New Multilateralism is available here.

- From 25 to 27 of March, the UN held an Interactive Thematic Dialogue of the UN General Assembly on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development at its headquarters in New York.  The Dialogue brought together many of the key players in the international development world – you can find a good summary of the meeting here, or read some of the more in-depth reports, including from UN Conference on Trade And Development, the World Bank, and the International Labour Organisation, or watch some of the hours of video on the Dialogue home page, including this excellent one of Joseph Stiglitz’s presentation (Real Player software needed).

What should be done (articles from the Guardian):

• Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute, Columbia University; Nariman Behravesh, IHS Global Insight; Gerard Lyons, Standard Chartered; Heiner Flassbeck, UNCTAD; Alistair Milne, Cass Business School; Kevin Watkins, UN: various responses.

• Mark Weisbrot: The G20 should end rich-country rule

• Howard Davies: More & Better Regulation

• John Kay: Restore Narrow Banking

• Aditya Chakrabortty: Give up our blind faith in economic growth

• Jeremy Seabrook: an opportunity to redress the inequalities that exist between rich and poor

• Will Hutton: Everything must be re-examined.

On the Summit:

• From the Bretton Woods Project, read an overview of official standpoints and proposals of participating countries ahead of the London summit (PDF)

• Or check out the leaked G20 draft communiqué.

• Or an interesting historical perspective from Dani Rodrik.

On the Protests (from London’s Guardian – again!):

• We were right the whole time!

• Some background

• Coverage from the weekend protests

• Perspectives from various activists

• That spoof of the Financial Times

More places to look for more analysis of the crisis and the G20 summit:

• Rethinking FInance: Alternative Voices for a New Financial Architecture

Phew!

The report says that

Liberalisation of overseas markets has been pushed aggressively by the industry’s lobbyists via free trade deals, firstly at the World Trade Organisation and more recently at the bilateral level.

It highlights two major impacts:

Firstly, the entry and presence of foreign banks is associated with the ‘cherry-picking’ of richer customers (both individuals and large businesses) and a decline in services and credit for poorer customers and smaller businesses. Rural communities are especially affected; foreign banks rarely have a meaningful presence outside large urban areas.

Secondly, the entry and presence of foreign banks produces a discernible and negative shift of credit away from productive activities (investment in agriculture, industrial production or local services) which can boost local development, and towards personal consumption, via credit cards and credit for items such as cars and mortgages.

You can dowload the full (52 page) report here or get a 2-page briefing here.

This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for  thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

Given that it sells 300 million of these is the UK & Ireland each year, this is a big step forward.  According to the Independent, Cadbury’s move will improve the livelihoods of forty thousand cacao farmers in Ghana.

We’ll be getting in touch with Cadbury in Australia to find out when they’ll be following suit….

Professor Frank Garcia from the Law Faculty, Boston College; Director, Law & Justice in the Americas Program will be speaking on “The Doha Round and its implications (success or failure) for developing countries”

The Doha Development Round, the current trade negotiation round of the World Trade Organization Negotiations, commenced in 2001. The aim of the negotiations is to lower the trade barriers around the world, allowing for an increase in global trade. These negotiations were frustrated by differing opinions on the effects the proposed provisions will have on developed and developing countries. Professor Garcia will speak about the implications of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations for people in developing countries, with a focus on the impact that negotiations will have on human rights.

Professor Frank Garcia has been a member of the Boston College Law Faculty since 2001. He earned his B.A. in Religious Studies from Reed College in 1985 and his J.D. from the University Of Michigan Law School in 1989. Professor Garcia was a Fulbright Scholar and professorial fellow at the Law Institute of the Americas, SMU School of Law, and is the Associate Director of the Caribbean Law Institute, at Florida State University College of Law. Professor Garcia has researched and published widely in the field of international trade, focusing on the theoretical, practical, human rights and social issues underpinning international trade and globalisation. His recent work, focussing on the ‘fairness’ of international trade regimes and publications include “Trade-Based Strategies for Combating Child Labor”, “Protecting the Human Rights Principle in a Globalizing Economy”, and “Why Trade Law Needs a Theory of Justice”.

Venue:  Monash University Law Chambers,  472 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
RSVP:  castan.centre@law.monash.edu.au; 9905 3327