The EU's responsibility at the WTO: environment, gender and development

EU and WTO responsibilities in gender, environment and development

Published by: Women in Development Europe (WIDE) , 2006
Via: Eldis

This report tackles EU's inconsistent trade policy with social justice, gender justice and environmental sustainability. The report analysis the EU position at the World Trade Kong in December 2005 and in ongoing negotiations. The publication consists of two parts:

The first part reports on the public hearing entitled ‘The EU’s responsibility at the WTO: Environment, gender and development’. It highlights issues such as the commodification of natural resources under the WTO, the importance of people’s food sovereignty, the gender dimension of the trade agenda, and biosafety. Moreover it addresses the WTO negotiations in the area of agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services, and trade and environment environment, taking into consideration the outcome of Beijing + 10, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals

The second part consists of an analysis of the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting from a feminist and environmentalist perspective

The report concludes that:

• the WTO needs to clarify its relationship to the multilateral environmental agreements, and its procedures need to be more inclusive, democratic and transparent
• the EU needs to look more closely at the impact of the negotiations on poverty, gender equality, the environment and sustainable natural resource management, and to rethink its negotiating position from the standpoint of cooperation, democracy, and equity